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POLITICAL 



EQUILIBRIUM 



BY 



WILLIAM H. HANBEY, 



OF HAGERSTOWN, MJ^RYLAND. 



Srcontr SSlJufoit. 



Printed by heard & durdy. 

1848. 




Entered according" to th« Act of Congresg, in the year 1842, by 
"WILLIABI H. HANDEY, 

In th« Clerk'i Office, of the Dietrict Court of Maryland. 



THE WRITER 

DEDICATES THIS WORK TO THE 

FARMERS AND MECHANICS, 

WHO BY THEIR AVOCATIONS 
ARE AS CLOSELY CONNECTED IN INTEREST 

AS TWIN BROTHERS IN BLOOD, 



PREFACE 



TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



Considering the number of books and periodicals ex- 
tant, treating upon all the various subjects which have pre- 
sented themselves to the onward march of mind — many 
of them the productions of authors of the highest order 
of talents, genius, and the greatest weight of moral char- 
acter and philanthropy, aided by classical education, and 
historical research — it may well be questioned whether 
this addition to the countless number, is not uncalled for, 
and superfluous. The writer is aware that his mental fac- 
ulties are ordinary, and that he is deficient in education 
and acquirements. Deeply impressed with the force of 
the foregoing considerations, he abandoned his intention 
of writing a book, after he had nearly completed the first 
chapter. But it subsequently occurred to him that whilst 
many persons require meat, others can only subsist upon 
milk — that majestic rivers are formed by the contributions 
of small tributaries — that the sea is composed of drops, 
and that the earth is composed of particles, many so small 
that they can only be seen by the aid of a microscope, 
whilst others more minute, can alone be viewed by the eye 
of reason — that matter and motion are inseparably con- 
nected, are composing and de-composing, producing, and 
by mutation, reproducing. Whilst w^e can have no con- 
ception of the existence of mind without a body, every 



VI PREFACE. 

sober-minded man must be sensible that mind and mat- 
ter were united for useful purposes, which cannot be car- 
ried out without an effort. The industrious husbandman 
who prepares and seeds his ground in due season, is not 
certain that he will reap ; but he knows that if he does 
not sow, he cannot reap. It is then the duty of everj 
rational man to make an effort, in proportion to the means 
within hrs reach, to add something to moral or physical 
production. Cannot the effort be made without vanity, 
unworthy motives, or arogant ambition, and without ques- 
tioning the motives of those who differ in opinion with 
the writer ? He answers in the afRrmative. 

Aware of human imDerfection, from which he is not ex- 
empt — knowing that the Christian and the Mussulman 
are alike sincere in their religious sentiments, each be- 
lieving that he is strictly right, and the other wholly wrong 
— it is not wonderful that, in the United States, where the 
mind is left free to think and to act, an honest difference 
of opinion should exist in reference to National and State 
policy. He is aware that it is difficult to convince an in- 
telligent man that he is in error in reference to long cher- 
ished principles — that every rational man, without a sin- 
gle exception, is governed in all his actions, moral and 
physical, by motives, without which he would be passive 
and useless to himself and to society — that man is not 
sufficiently perfect to limit his motives of interest or opin- 
ion, in all cases^ to that principle which has an equal ten- 
iency to promote his own happiness, and the good of those 
with whom he is associated; he is nevertheless persuaded 
that neither the Christian nor the Mussulman wishes to 
be misled or deceived upon any subject wiiatever. As it 
iS impossible that any well meaning man would intention- 
ally mislead or deceive others, it would be unreasonable 
^o suppose that all men are governed by unworthy motives; 
ue therefore hopes, that what he has composed and copi- 
ed, will be read without prejudicCo 



PREFACE. Til 

The writer commenced with a determination to avoid 
any expression calculated to give offence to the reader, to 
which he adhered throughout. But he was deeply im- 
pressed with the fact, that it was as impossible to write as 
to speak without using words, and that the use of unmean- 
ing words, would be a fraud upon his patrons. If the rea- 
der considers any expression offensive or uncalled for, he 
is authorized to withdraw it, with an assurance that it was 
unintentional. If the writer cannot please, he has no de- 
sire to offend. He is sensible of the obligations he is un- 
der to the highly respectable and intelligent community in 
which he resides — that many, perhaps all, with whom he 
Is acquainted, subscribed for the work, more from motives 
of kindness to the writer, than with the expectation of be- 
ing benefited by perusing it. 

In refering to the measures of political parties, he has 
not impeached the motives of any. In reference to mat- 
ters oi factj he has labored to be strictly correct — to pre- 
sent truth as fairly and fully, as the documents and other 
means within his reach would enable him. If the argu- 
ments advanced, and conclusions drawn are heterodox, 
their refutation is easy, and is invited. 

He is not aware, nor does he believe, that he has ad- 
vanced sentiments or arguments which never suggested 
themselves to any other person ; but he docs say that the 
sentiments and arguments, not marked as quotations, are 
with him original, although some of them, in substance, 
previously appeared in print — this explanation is deemed 
necessary to protect him from the charge of plagiarism. 
He has given to the political parties the distinctive names 
they claim, for the same reasons that he addresses indi- 
viduals by their proper names and titles. If there are any 
errors in relation to matters of fact, they are unintentional, 
and attributable to the limited means within his reach, to 
refer to documents, and to the fact that he had no aid in 
writing or compiling. With these introductory remarks he 
introduces the reader to the ^'Political Equilibrium/' 



PREFACE, 

TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

The first edition of this work met with a reception^ 
from both political parties, more favorable than was antici- 
pated by the writer. The important facts, connected with 
the political history of our country, were so arranged as 
to render it useful to politicians of both parties as a book 
of reference, and gave it a character and value, not at- 
tributable to any literary merit in the writer. 

This enlarged and revised edition is intended for the 
special benefit of that useful class of society whose indus^ 
trious habits and avocations, do not allow them sufl!icient 

tme for extensive reading and documental research. 

Should the work have the desired effect, of imparting to 
them useful information, and directing their minds to the 
true principles on which our go^^ernment is founded, and 
by which it operates in producing a prosperous or ad- 
verse state of affairs, it would be a solace to the writer in 
his declining age. 

It^ may be allowable for the writer to say that at the age 
of sixty-two, an invalid and unable to labor, he is depen- 
dent upon his pen and a generous people for subsistence. 
He IS truly sensible that it is a duty he owes to his Crea- 
tor and to society, to use all fair and honorable means- 
withm his reach to obtain the necessaries of life, and '^owe 
BO man," except good will. If the book he offers, is 



PREFACE, IX 

worth a dollar, every one who subscribes for, or takes a 
copy, will not only receive an equivalent, but w^ill con- 
tribute a substantial benefit to the writer, who solemnly 
says that at his advanced age, he has ceased to be ambi- 
tious for worldly destinction. He only desires the neces- 
saries and comforts of life, and to possess and deserve, 
the reputation of an honest man. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUMo 



CHAPTER L 

On differeHt forms of government^ with miscellaneous ©bservaliQnt, 

Party names are not only convenient, but indispensa- 
ble. We might as well undertake to dispense with the 
names of individuals, as with the names of political par- 
ties. "Stick to your party," is a term frequently used 
by politicians without any qualification whatever ; aad 
sometimes with powerful effect. It is not the writer's in- 
tention to impeach the motives of all who avail them- 
selves of the force of a party name to elect their ticket, 
or to use language calculated to give offence to the most 
sensitive mind. It matters not whether the name of one's 
neighbor is Cain or Abel. If mother Eve had named 
her first born Abel and her second son Cain, it is certain 
wicked Abel would have murdered righteous Cain. There 
was nothing murderous in the name of either brother; the 
sanguinary disposition was in the man^ not in the name. 
Individuals are to be judged by their words and acts, not 
by their names ; and invariably ought the same rule to 
be applied to political parties. The oath which a repre- 
sentative takes, to support the constitution, is or ought 
to be, equally as binding upon him to support the gener- 



12 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

al good and public welfare without regard to party names. 
The writer has long entertained and frequently expressed 
the opinion, that a politician who is not governed by the 
dictates of reason and the teachings of experience, with 
the single object to the general welfare and the attain- 
ment of the greatest earthly blessings and benefits, acts 
ungratefully towards the Creator, who bestowed upon him 
the principle of reason, and a bodily form suited to in- 
telligence, and both intended to enable him to protect and 
enjoy his natural and acquired rights, and secure to those 
with whom he is associated the same blessings. That form 
of government which produces the greatest amount of hu- 
man happiness and independence, with the lightest burth- 
en and pressure, is preferable to any other; but no form 
of government can secure to us our natural and acquired 
rights and render us prosperous and happy, unless hon- 
estly administered. No government can be faithfully ad- 
ministered unless it originates in, and is carried out by 
the dictates of reason, justice and the teachings of exper- 
ience. If these guides fail, in vain may we look to painty 
for relief. Man is more or less governed in his transac- 
tions, political and civil, by his Will or his Judgment. 
If these two principles come in opposition to each other, 
he can never act morally wrong by being governed by his 
judgment^ and never in such a contest can he act right if 
governed by his Will. 

^'The political writers of antiquity," says Blackstone, 
^^will not allow more than three regular forms of govern- 
ment; the first, when the sovereign power is lodged in an 
aggregate assembly, consisting of all free members of a 
community, which is called a democracy; the second, 
when it is lodged in a council, composed of select members, 
and then it is styled an aristocracy ; the last, when it is 
entrusted in the hands of a single person, and then it takes 
the name of a monarchy. All other species of govern- 
ment, they say, are either corruptions of, or reducible to 
these three." 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 13 

When we take into consideration that most of the reg- 
ular governments upon earth, and all of ancient standing 
and magnitude,* are monarchal or aristocratic, the irre- 
sistible conclusion is, that all governments naturally in- 
cline to aristocracy, or monarchy. Ambitious man is more 
generally influenced by his will^ than by his judgment ; in 
proportion as he gains power, he loses sight of right. His 
ambitious loill connected with political par^^, becomes dai- 
ly more active and determined, until his judgments are 
overwhelmed, and he sinks or swims with his party; and 
will only yield to the superior numbers of an opposing 
one which may be influenced by no better principles than 
his own. 

From the formation of our Republic to the present day, 
the people have been, (with the exception of a short peri- 
od, commencing towards the close of Mr. Monroe's first 
presidential term.) divided into two great political parties ; 
in both of which there are, and always have been subdi- 
visions, so nearly equal in numbers, as to leave the two 
chief parties to attack and repel each other with a violence 
not perceivably broken by the subdivisions in the embod- 
iment of either of the political beligerants. During the 
violent and bitter struggle between the two great contend- 
ing parties, it is reasonable to suppose that each occasion- 
ally did the other injustice; and that by the triumph of 
one of them, sound and w^holesome principles were occa- 
sionally sacrificed. The spread of intelligence, and the 

*The French Revolution only broke the chain in an ancient hereditary 
form of government. The short duration of the French Republic, com- 
menced wiUi the termination of the reign of one king — was followed bj 
an emperor, and terminated in restoring" the government to its former 
line. — Note to first Edition, 

A recent, and almost bloodless Revolution has expelled Louis Phillippe 
and the Royal Family, and a provisional government has been formed 
upon Republican principles. Gratifying as it .vould be to the writer, if 
he could have an assurance that the French Nation w^ould establish a na- 
tional and permanent government upon the representative model; he looks 
At the recent Revolution and subsequent movement of that versatile peo- 

Ele, impressed with misgivings, rather than inspired by hope, — they 
ave not the stability of the Ang-lo Saxoa race.— iVofe to second Edition. 



14 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

onward march of mind, may, and it is hoped will, define 
the leading principles upon which parties will split. They 
are inseparably connected with a Republican form of gov- 
ernment; it is as impossible that one can exist without 
the other, in a wide extended country, as it is impossible 
that mind can exist without a body. 

In the political parties w^hich have heretofore existed, 
there always were in each, and it is reasonable to con- 
clude there ever will be found, men of the highest order 
of intellectual faculties, and patriotic principles, and able 
statesmen possessing the proper qualifications to discharge 
the duties of the various and necessary stations connect- 
ed with our representative democratic form of government. 
That there have been prominent party demagogues, will 
not be denied by any candid man, who is intelligent up- 
on the sabject. Under a government like ours, which 
leaves the mind free to think and act, wuth no legal res- 
traints, except such as come under the general heads of 
felony, breach of the peace, misdemeanor and trespass, 
the demagogue and the statesman will occasionally come 
into collision, and the former may triumph. The greatest, 
perhaps the only security we have for the continuance and 
purity of our democratic form of government, rests w^ith 
the body of the people, or with that portion who neither 
seek nor desire office. They constitute a large majority in 
this and in every other country, and are the working and 
producing classes ; and if they should ever become cor- 
rupt, or should be misled and deceived by demagogues, our 
Republican form of government would be in danger, and 
could only be preserved, by a return to sotmd principles 
and correct views on the part of the people. 

There is an unlimited confidence, in the integrity and 
purity of intention of the body of the people of the United 
States, and especially in that large and usefrj portion, that 
desire the welfare of their country rather than the spoils of 
a victorious partyism. In a political point of view, they 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIITM. 15 

are honest; but purity of intention does not always afford 
absolute security against the designs of demagogues and 
tyrants. It is adverse to the interest of the working class 
to be politically dishonest, and consequently that class will 
never knowingly be politically wrong or act from improp- 
er motives. Industry is as certainly the parent of moral 
and political honesty, as is idleness the parent of vicious 
habits and crime. It may here be remarked, that such are 
the industrious habits of a large majority of the working 
class — particularly in the non-slaveholding States — that 
they seldom rest from their labor, except on the Sabbath, 
or when from necessity they repose in sleep. Consequent- 
ly this class must possess less political and useful informa- 
tion than those who devote most of their time to reading, 
traveling and to conversational intercourse. It follows, 
then, that the latter class must necessarily possess an ad- 
vantage over the former in point of intelligence; and this 
enables them to act with a power so great, as frequently to 
mislead and fleece the majority. To the unholy use of 
this advantage, more than to any other cause, may be tra- 
ced the origin of all aristocratic and monarchal forms of 
government; and the special attention of the reader is 
asked to the consideration of the question: How is this 
to be remedied? Are the human family to withdraw from 
the cultivation of the earth to acquire knowledge by rea- 
ding and discussion? Certainly not. But as government 
is indispensible to support our natural and acquired rights, 
and as government cannot be supported without revenue, 
every man, in paying a tax, surrenders a portion of his 
property for the protection of the remainder, and for the 
security of his rights; and ought he not to devote a reas- 
onable portion of his time for the purpose of acquiring 
knowledge, and acquainting himself with the measures of 
those who are entrusted with the rems of government ? 
In all forms of government, power is vested in the hands 
cf ihefewy whose ambition to continue in office and rule 



16 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

over the many^ has a tendency to intrigue and corruptioTic 
It therefore requires vigilance and intelligence on the part 
of the constituency, to watch their public servants, ex- 
amine their measures, with a view to prevent them from 
changing their relative position from that of public ser- 
vants to that of political masters. The following extract 
from the first annual address of the Father of his country, 
will commend itself; first, from the source from which it 
is derived, and secondly, from the sentiments expressed. 

''Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree with me 
in opinion, that there is nothing which can better deserve 
your patronage than the promotion of science and litera- 
ture. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of 
public happiness. In one in which the measures of gov- 
ernment receive their impressions so immediately from the 
sense of the community as in ours, it is proportionably es- 
sential. To the security of a free constitution it contrib- 
utes in various ways : by convincing those who are en- 
trusted with the public administration, that every valuable 
end of government, is best answered by the enlightened 
confidence of the people; and by teaching the people them- 
selves to know and value their own rights; to discern and 
provide against invasions of them; to distinguish between 
oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority; 
between burdens proceeding from a disregard to their con- 
venience, and those resulting from the inevitable exigen- 
cies of society; to discriminate the spirit of liberty, from 
that of licentiousness, cherishing the first, avoiding the last, 
and uniting a speedy but temperate vigilance against en- 
croachments, with an inviolable respect to the law^s." 

If the means recommended by the Father of his coun- 
try were necessary to preserve the integrity and purity of 
the government at the period of its organization, by a union 
of wisdom and valor, unsurpassed in any age or nation, ii 
»ot an adherence to the sentiments advanced, necessary 
at this and all future periods? For more than forty yean, 



POLITICAL EQTJiLIBRIUJSf. l? 

etery Presidential contest, with one exception, has been 
decided by drawing the party line ; and measures have 
frequently been lost sight of, or misrepresented in the bit- 
terness in which the parties have assailed and repelled each 
other. The extract contains more good sense than could 
be found in a volume of party and inflammatory speeches, 
which have been delivered in Congress in support of par- 
ty, without even a reference to the public good. Every 
unprejudiced and attentive reader of the debates in Con- 
gress, for a number of years past, must have observed, 
that the speeches have generally been in support of one 
party and in derogation of another. Instead of attempt- 
ing to gain the confidence of the people by wise and whole- 
some measures, the object was to rally them in party strife. 
If the people objected to a measure and assigned reasons 
for their opposition to it, they vrere told that it was a 
leading and high party measure and they v/ere called upon 
to support it upon that principle. How different in char- 
acter and spirit were the debates in Congress during the 
Revolution and in the Convention that formed the Consti- 
tution. Different opinions among the members of those 
bodies, created an honest enquiry and led to an impartial 
examination of the different sentiments expressed ; and 
with the single purpose of promoting the general good. 
Mr. Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia, written towards 
the close of the Revolution, uses this language: 

'' From the conclusion of this war tve shall be going 
down hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every 
moment to the people for support. They w^ill be forgot- 
ten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will 
forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making mon- 
ey and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect 
for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not 
be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, v>'ill remain 
on us long — will be made heavier and heavier, till oui> 
rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion." 

B 



18 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 

The predictions of Mr. Jefferson have been fulfilled to 
an alarming extent. We have several times been on the 
verge of dissolution. 

The writer's political principles were formed at an early 
period of life and he is not aware that they have under- 
gone a shadow of change. They are democratic so far as 
democratic principles are practicable in all the branches of 
the government, except only the Judiciary. He not only 
prefers a democratic form of government to any other, but 
considers it the only rational form of government upon 
earth. A government strictly democratic, would not be 
convenient and scarcely practicable in a territory as large 
and populous as Washington county; and wholly imprac- 
ticable for the state of Maryland, or the Union, Because, 
it would do away the representative feature, and require 
all the voters to assemble in council and pass all laws by 
a majority of the whole body of voters and the same in ref- 
erence to repealing or amending previous laws. They would 
be impracticable except in a very small community; and, 
if attempted to be carried out in a large one, would pro- 
duce confusion and anarchy, and reduce the whole to a 
state of chaos. Some men, no doubt well disposed, seem 
to think that democracy has a direct reference to mild, 
just and equitable laws, — that democracy and equity are 
synonymous terms, and travel side by side, like those uni- 
ted by the ties of mutual affection ard the laws of matri- 
mony. But there would be as much sense in saying that 
because marriage is a divine, holy and honorable institu- 
tion, — sanctioned and recommended by all civilized na- 
tions, that all who are married must live in unalloyed hap- 
piness, striving for the equal benefit and comfort of each 
other, — as to say that all laws enacted and carried out by 
a democratic form of government, with or without the rep- 
resentative feature, would secure equal benefits and bles- 
sings to all, and place the minority on an equality with 
the majority. A democratic form of government, can only 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. IS^ 

be carried out practically by the majority ruling; and all 
laws enacted by the majority must be laws of the democra- 
cy — the democracy is the majority and the majority is the 
democracy. A democracy may proscribe and oppress the 
minority as much as any other form of government what- 
ever. Under a democratic form and administration of gov- 
ernment, without restrictions, checks, and balances to re- 
strain the majority, laws might be enacted providing that 
every deformed infant and every male who on arriving at 
lawful age did not measure a specified height should be 
put to death. If such laws were passed and carried into 
effect in their fullest extent by the majority^ they would 
not be the laws of the democracy. If it be asked if such 
laws would be consistent Vv^ith the spirit of democracy, the 
answer is that the true meaning and spirit of democracy 
is that the will of the majority^ (not the minority) shall 
rule w^hether it be in blood or in mercy. Democracy does 
even provide for uniformity of laws. Every State in 
the Union is under a democratic form of government re- 
taining the representative feature ; and yet in no two 
States are the laws alike, and in some, (perhaps in most 
<)f them) they are not uniform throughout the State. In 
Washington and some other counties in Maryland, the 
cutting and carrying away of hoop-poles, by any person 
not the owner of the land is a penitentiary offence: and 
there has been in the neighboring county of Frederick, at 
least one conviction under this law; — in other counties in 
this State it is a mere tresspass, for which the owner can 
only recover on a civil suit for damages. In no two coun- 
ties in Maryland, it is believed, are the laws uniform 
throughout. 

Mr. Jefferson uses the following language in his first 
Inaugural address : — 

^'I know indeed that some honest men fear that a re- 
publican government cannot be strong — that this govern- 
ment is not strong enough. But w^ould the honest patriot, 



20 POLITICAL equilibrium:. 

in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a gov- 
ernment which has so far kept us free and firm, on the 
theoretic and visionary fear, that this government, the 
world's best hope, may, by possibility, w^ant energy to 
preserve itself; I trust not — I believe this, on the contra- 
ry to be the strons^est government on earth — I believe it 
the only one, where every man, at the call of the law, 
would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet in- 
vasions of the public order as his own personal concern." 
With deference to the opinions of Mr. Jefferson, my 
own observation, for more than thirty years, has impress- 
ed upon my mind that a republican form of government 
IS either the weaker or is less energetic in the use of its 
means to preserve its laws, and quell insurrections and 
internal commotions, than any other form of government 
— that its materials for 56^ preservation and self de- 
struction are nearly balanced, and to speak figuratively 
it is more likely to expire by suicide than in any other 
way. The legally constituted lav>'s have been forcibly 
resisted; groups of one or two thousand men have been 
seen in the day time deliberately pulling down houses and 
destroying the furniture; w^e have had insurrections; and 
how have they been met and subdued? Proclamations ac-^ 
companied by pardons to all those wdio would desist and 
respect the constituted laws — the military have been call- 
ed out and marched into the territories in which the in- 
surgents had successfully resisted the laws — the sword 
presented in one hand and a pardon in the other. A few 
persons have been arrested and imprisoned as the ring- 
leaders of mobs and rebellions, yet we have never had a 
conviction for treason and few" have been in anyway pun- 
ished for forcibly resisting the laws. While some have 
termed those violent measures and prostration of law and 
order, mobocraey and rebellion, others have termed them 
democratic associations, patriotically taking the laws into- 
tli^ir own hands with a view of redressing a real or sup- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 2l 

•posed injury or repealing an obnoxious law without the 
aid of the Legislature. Under some forms of government 
such democratic movements would be subdued by shoot- 
ing or hanging. If an individual is convicted of robbing 
a hen-roost or pig-sty he is sent to the Penitentiary; but 
if a mob pulls down a house and destroys the furniture, 
the leaders are generally pardoned and the rest considered 
misguided citizens, by some, and by others, the democ- 
racy acting independent of law. 

The writer disclaims any intention of applying to either 
of the prominent parties which have divided the people, 
the violations of law referred to — such application would 
be unjust. The body of each party has always been advo- 
•cates for law and order: but demagogues have appeared 
in both of the great divisions. The body of the people 
are, and ever were, democratic in their principles. The 
powerful party who once called themselves Jacksonians, 
and claimed no other name, were as democratic at that 
time as they now are under their new title. That there al- 
ways were in every political party which has existed since 
the formation of government, demagogues and agitators, 
no doubt can be entertained. Such characters can act 
with more effect under a republican form of government 
than under any other. 

Our republican form of government would be as strong 
if not stronger, in a war with a foreign nation than any 
other form. Because^ in addition to national patriotism, 
every man would be desirous to preserve our political in- 
stitutions, and in the language of Mr. Jefferson — ''every 
man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of 
the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as 
his own concern." In a war between two nations, one 
under a republican and the other under an aristocratic or 
monarchial form of government, victory on the part of the 
latter, would be to continue the monarchal yoke and riv- 
et it more firmly on the necks of the mass of the peopk: 



22 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 

whereas, defeat uiight deliver them from bondage and be* 
stow upon them the blessing of a free government and its- 
attendant benefits. Under a democratic form of govern- 
ment the human mind is left free to think and act, and in 
proportion as the mental faculties are developed, the peo- 
ple become more divided in matters of opinion^ and in 
their ambition and energy to support their opinions, they 
become excitable. And there ever will be demagogues 
and Jacobins who will act upon the excitable matter, and 
labor to fan it into a flame, regardless of consequences or 
desirous to obtain office. 

If ever our republican form of government be dissolved^ 
(which heaven forbid,) it will proceed from internal com- 
motion, produced by agitators who will labor to inflame 
the public mind, prevent dispassionate reason and argu- 
ment to act ; produce passion and prejudice ; array one 
portion of the country against another and thereby dis- 
solve the Union. As to the United States ever being 
conquered by any foreign nation or combination of foreign 
powers, if not wholly impossible, it is so improbable as to 
leave nothing to fear from foreign nations ; but if the con- 
federacy should ever be divided, and separate and distinct 
governments created, one at a time might be engaged in 
v»' ar with one or more European nations ; or the separate 
nations formed out of our Union might be at war with 
each other. Let us suppose that our federal head should, 
by the mutual consent of all the States, be decapitated, 
and the public property owned by the confederacy equal- 
ly divided among the several States in proportion to pop- 
ulation. Each State would then be a separate and sov- 
ereign nation; but would not the sovereignty and inde- 
pendence of all be in danger? One of the most powerful 
of the European nations might conquer and colonize one 
of the largest American nations^ or from internal commo- 
tion it might be drenched in blood ; and the fate of one 
State would be a pressage to the fate of all. In the fore- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 23 

going he has supposed that each Stale, on becoming a 
sovereign and independent nation, retained its democratic 
form of government. Its excitable matter and its dema- 
gogues v^ould therefore be in proportion to its population, 
and its organs of self destruction would be operated up- 
on by political Phrenologists, who would labor to prove 
the truth of the science of phrenology, in a national re- 
bellion. 

But whilst we are united by the Constitution to our 
federal head, w^e will at all times unite as do the feet and 
hands in locomotion and labor, and at the call of the gen- 
eral government march, fight, and expel from our shores 
foreign invaders. Although war is to be deprecated, and 
although it would be a blessing if the principles of Qua- 
kerism were immovably planted in the breast of every hu- 
man being, and pass to posterity ; nations and individu- 
als should be viewed as they really are, and not as they 
ought to be. The internal commotions, and increased vio- 
lent resistance to the regularly constituted laws, must be 
considered with awful forebodings by every intelligent and 
unprejudiced man who has seriously weighed the subject, 
in his mind. What would be the consequence if all laws 
throughout a State were suspended for twenty-four hours 
and no one ever afterwards to be responsible for his trans- 
actions during that period? Can any sober-minded man 
doubt that that day would be characterized by rapine, mur- 
der, carnage and brutal violence, at the contemplation of 
which every well regulated mind would sicken. Although 
laws enacted by the impartial wisdom of a state or nation, 
and with a single object of promoting the general good 
and public welfare, may, in some respects, have an une- 
qual bearing ; yet, in the language of president Jackson, 
in his second annual message : "It is beyond the power 
of man to make a system of government like ours, or any 
other, operate with precise equality upon States situated 
like those which compose this confederacy ; nor is in- 



34 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

EQUALITY ALWAYS INJUSTICE. Every State cannot ex- 
pect to shape the measures of the general government to 
suit its own particular interest. The causes which pre- 
vent it are seated in the nature of things, and cannot be 
entirely counteracted by human means. Mutual forbear- 
ance becomes, therefore, a duty obligatory upon all; and 
we may, I am confident, count upon a cheerful compli- 
ance with this high injunction on the part of our consti- 
tuents. It is not to be supposed that they will object to 
make such comparatively inconsiderable sacrifices for the 
preservation of rights and privileges, which other less fa- 
vored portions of the world have in vain waded through 
seas of blood to acquire." 

President Jackson said many wise things, and the wrir 
ter stands am^ong those who admire his maxims, and dis- 
approve of some of his measures, without questioning his 
motives. The bearing which the laws of Congress has 
upon the states, is similar to the bearing of the laws of a 
State upon the counties ; and if inequality existed in some 
cases it might not be ''injustice," but wholly attributable 
to local causes or sectional feeling which no human laws 
could remove. Our democratic form of governm.ent pre- 
sents the anomaly of v;ant of strength or energy to cause 
its internal laws to be respected, or to punish those who 
violently resist them and endanger life and liberty ; but 
strength, energy and valor proportioned to the numbers 
to contend with a foreign foe. Proof of this was given 
during the late war with Great Britain. A powerful mi- 
nority was opposed to the declaration of that war, 
and the opposition to it increased, until the enemy cap- 
tured Washington, destroyed the Capitol and other pub- 
lic property. That event caused the people to unite 
throughout the Union in support of the war ; party spirit 
was buried in patriotism and valor; both parties fought 
shoulder to shoulder, emulated by the single principle of 
eclipsing each other in soldiery and daring enterprise : the 



jPOLITiGAL EQUILIBRIUM. 25 

national pride and physical strength of the nation were 
developed in proportion to the pressure upon it, and the 
star-spangled banner was never struck on land or sea to 
an equal force. The following sentiment by Commodore 
Decatur, a federalist, was responded to by acclamation 
throughout the Union as applicable to a state of war;-^ 

''My country — in her intercourse with foreign nation!^, 
may she be right; and may she be successful right or 
wrong." 

The success of our arms by sea and land and the united 
determination of the nation to support the war, until an 
honorable peace could be obtained, hastened a return of 
that desired object, and the moral and physical effect of 
-that war upon the nation, may be compared to the effect 
of a thunder-storm upon the atmospliere, which renders it 
more pure and healthy. The result of the late war with 
England developed the strength of a dem.ocratic form of 
government to assert and cause its rights to be respected 
by foreign nations; and whilst we hold the olive branch 
of peace and friendly intercourse, upon just principles, in 
one hand, and the sword of resistance in the other, our 
rights will never be trampled upon with impunity by for- 
eign powers. In the appropriate lan<^u3ge of Mr. Jeffer- 
son, we shall in a contest with a foreign nation be ^'all 
REruBLicANS, ALL FEDERALISTS." And in the language 
of Gen. Jackson in his letter to President Monroe, dated 
January 6, 1817, Niles' Register, vol, 26, page 167 — 
''party names of themselves, are but bubbles, and some? 
times used for the most wicked purposes," 

The remark that party names are "sometimes used for 
the most wicked purposes," was at ifAa^time appropriate, 
has subsequently been, and may be again. Mr. Monroe 
had just been elected by a party vote. At the presidential 
election of 1816, just after the conclusion of the late w^ar, 
the republicans and federalists were bitterly arrayed against 
^.ach other^ but Mr, Monroe was elected by a large majon^ 



26 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ity, which was the last contest between the two old repub- 
lican and federal parties for the presidency. Gen. Jack- 
son, discriminating between party names and principles, 
recommended Col. Drayton, a talented iederalist as a suit- 
able character for Secretary of War, and approved of the 
appointment of John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State. 
Page 168. Mr. Adams, it is known, formerly belonged to 
the federal party ; but withdrew in 1807, and was after- 
w^ards denounced by them generally. After he withdrew 
from the federal party he was appointed by Mr. Madison 
minister to Russia, and continued at the Russian court 
until Mr. Monroe was elected president, when he was ap- 
pointed by Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State, which appoint- 
ment w^as highly approved of by Gen. Jackson, as will ap- 
pear on reference to the page and volume referred to. — 
Gen. Jackson when he came into power acted in accord- 
ance with his recommendation to Mr. Monroe, and in ma- 
king selections for his cabinet, foreign ministers, the ju- 
diciary, and other important stations; he was mindful of 
that portion of the ultra federal party, who were as zeal- 
ous in support of his election, as they were bitter in their 
opposition to the administrations of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. 
Madison. Messrs. Buchanan, Louis McLean, Taney, 
Wilkins, Baldwin and many other federalists, of the first 
order of intelligence and prominence, were placed in the 
highest offices in his gift. His party consisted of those 
who supported him ; and his administration was intel- 
lectual and personal — not political, as related to re- 
publicans and federalists, as parties had previously arrang- 
ed themselves. The reader will draw his conclusions from 
the facts which are stated — the motives of Gen. Jackson, 
or those who supported him, are not called in question. 

For years past a strong ana increasing disposition has 
been manifested to elect, by the popular voice and direct 
vote of the people, independent of, and without the agen- 
cy of the Legislature^ all civil and military officers; all 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 27 

persons having power and authority, or the exercise of 
any privilege not possessed by each and every individual. 
It is earnestly submitted to the serious, unprejudiced and 
solemn consideration of every man, whether the principles 
contended for, if carried out, would not weaken the raor- 
alj political and physical power of the mass of the people: 
lessen the security for life, liberty, the pursuit of happi- 
ness and the right to acquire and possess property. — 
Might not the frequency of popular elections, the vast 
number of persons to be elected by the popular voice, be 
carried to a ruinous extremePIs there no wholesome me- 
dium? no equilibrium? no checks and balances? no ap- 
pointing power necessary ? These questions are worthy 
of the serious consideration of EVERY man in the na- 
tion. It will be admitted by all that knowledge is pro- 
gressive ; or that it is only acquired by the exercise of our 
senses. Why, then, is it necessary that the federal gov- 
ernment and each state government should be bound by 
a written constitution, and every civil and military officer 
bound by an oath or affirmation to support it before he en- 
ters upon his duty — if the people can at all times secure 
their natural and acquired rights, and preserve order and 
harmony by a direct appeal to the ballot boxes ? If it be 
said that the constitution of every State in the Union pro- 
vides means for amendments, or that the right to amend 
or abolish one Constitution, and form another, is inherent 
in the people, the question then presents itself, why not 
exercise the right at every popular election, untrammeled 
by a previous Constitution ? The only correct answer 
which suggests itself to the mind of the writer — and which 
is of more than thirty years standing — is this : that a con- 
vention chosen by the people for the exclusive purpose of 
framing a Constitution for the government and protection 
of themselves and posterity, would act with more deliber- 
ation, impartiality and sound judgment than an excited or 
infuriated populace, divided into political parties, and la- 



-88 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

boring to defeat each other at the polls, with the ultimate 
object of turning one party out of office and putting an- 
other in. It, therefore, becomes necessary to have a Con- 
stitution to be alike binding on every party. 

It has often been said that the more simple the construc- 
tion of a niachine, or the forms of government, the bet- 
ter. Both must be taken in a qualified sense — avoiding 
the extreme in both cases. If we fall short or go beyond 
an equilibrium, the machine or the form of government will 
be more or less imperfect. A machine cannot be too sim- 
ple, provided it answers the purpose for which it was in- 
tended, and leaves no room for amendment. Just so with 
the forms of government. Now, for the sake of argument, 
suppose that the more simple the parts of a machine, or 
-the forms of government, the better. It then follows that 
a sled or sledge, being more simple than a wagon or any 
wheel carriage, is preferable at all seasons of the year, and 
that the invention of wheel carriages has been injurious. 
Next to a simple form of government; an absolute mon- 
archy is certainly the most simple form of government up- 
on earth, or of which w^e can have any conception ; and 
is, at the same time, the most unreasonable and unjust; 
because it concentrates all power and authority at the dis- 
posal of one man. And as he cannot govern a nation by 
consent of the governed, he entrenches himself by military 
power, and governs by an iron arm of despotism ; not by 
the force of reason or moral means; and preserves and 
strengthens his simple and despotic fcrm of government 
by enforcing obedience to his will. Those appointed by 
the monarch to carry out his edicts, w^ill never fail to have 
sufficient inducements to obey his w^ill in the affluent situa- 
tions in which he places them; and those who hold the 
sw^ord and the purse never govern by moral means — the 
purse and the sword will supersede reason and argument. 
No prmciples are too sacred for examination, or too holy 
to be understood. Man may discover the fundamental prin- 



paMTrcAL equilibrium:,' 29^ 

ciples which govern the planetary system, but he cannot 
create or change them. The great principles which 
govern it, must be as old as matter, and must have exis- 
ted before the organization of the universe. By the appli- 
cation of immutable laws, matter in a state of chaos, 
was moulded into revolving w^orlds. The meehani- 
ical order and harmony w^hich prevail throughout the plan- 
etary system, present to the mind the proper application 
and effect of attraction and repulsion, gravity, checks 
and balances, so graduated as to produce an equilibrium 
and give motion and harmony to matter for wise purpo- 
ses. The conclusion is arrived at, if the writer may use 
the expression, that the planetary system is governed by 
a constitution which, if dissolved, the planets w^ould rush 
together with a violence which v;ould reduce them to their 
original state of chaos; — or they would fly off in straight 
lines wdth a velocity which would presently separate them^ 
so far from each other as to deprive some of them of light 
and heat. As it is self evident to every intelligent and 
inquiring man, that the order and harmony which prevail- 
throughout the motions of the heavenly bodies — some re- 
volving m fixed orbits with a velocity of many thousand 
miles per hour, w^hilst others turn on their axis only — are 
produced by a combination of principles, so applied as to^ 
produce an equilibrium extending throughout the whole 
planetary system, does not the human family require con-- 
stitutions and laws to govern them? If, then, inanimate 
matter, w^hich is destitute of intelligence, cannot be trust- 
ed without being subjected to a code of statute laws^ 
ehecks and balances, to produce and preserve order and 
harmony, are not checks and balances necessary to pro- 
duce and preserve order and harmony among men who 
are versatile — governed by their will or their judgment ? 
The first is generally selfish and founded in interested mo- 
tives, and the latter is frequently imperfect. To preserve, 
then,, order, harmony, and uniformity in the principles and 



30 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

forms of government, and laws, throughout a state or na- 
tion, it is necessary that the whole body of voters should 
speak and act through legislative bodies, composed of 
' representatives chosen by them at the polls. As it would 
be impraciicable for the democracy, i. 6., the body of vo- 
ters, even in one of the smallest States, to meet in mass, 
and form themselves into a legislative body, the represen- 
tative principle then suggests itself as the only alternative 
in a democratic form of government. If the representa- 
tives from any county in a State, or section of a nation, 
brought with them a disposition to oppress the minority 
who opposed their election, and who might have been in- 
fluenced by principles and motives as correct and v;hole- 
some, or even more so, than those who voted for them, 
they could not carry out their selfish and unholy intentions, 
without obtaining the votes of a majority of both branch- 
es of the Legislature, This could seldom, if ever, occur; 
and human wisdom cannot devise means so well calcula- 
ted to prevent a majority from oppressing a minority as 
is presented by the representatives of the people chosen 
by themselves — formed into two legislative bodies, and 
requiring a majority in each branch to pass each and every 
law, no matter how local in its bearing. Add to all this, any 
law passed by the Legislature may peaceably be submitted 
to the Judicial investigation as to its constitutionality. 
If government, thus organized, is too complex, can it be 
simplified and improved by choosing all civil and military 
officers, or persons vested with authority, by the direct vote 
of the people over whom they are to preside? (Reader, 
pause and reflect!) Respect for your intelligence and purity 
of intention, forbids a minute discussion and illustration 
of every sentiment and principle advanced. And the wri- 
ter fears that he may have the appearance of underrating 
your intelligence and reasoning faculties, by too much 
argument. Such is his taste for brevity and respect for 
your understanding, as to impress upon his mind the pro- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 31 

priety of expressing himself in as few words as his knowl- 
edge of language will allow him.) 

But the question has been frequently a^ked, are not the 
people as competent to choose the minor officers of gov- 
ernment and all those connected with it, executive and 
judicial, as they are to choose the president and vice 
president of the United States? He says, upon abstract 
principles, they are equally competent in either, or in any 
case. The people are of right the sovereign and the only 
legitimate source of power; and it is their solemn duty 
to exercise it in a way best calculated to preserve their 
sovereignty, and secure their natural and acquired rights, 
with the least inconvenience; to do which, organized gov- 
ernment is indispensable. But one president, only, can 
serve at a time, and he presides over the Union, with lim- 
ited and defined powers. He is chosen through the inter- 
vention of electors, who are elected by a general ticket in 
every State in the Union, except South Carolina, in which 
the electors are chosen by the Legislature. Gen. Jackson 
proposed an amendment to the Constitution so as to choose 
the President without the intervention of electors, preser- 
ving the same relative votes in the States. The writer 
has but one objection to that mode, which he w^iil state 
with deference to the opinion of Gen. Jackson. Suppose 
that just on the eve of the election one of the candidates 
for the presidency should die, but his death not be known 
beyond the neighborhood or district in which he resided, 
until after the close of the election throughout the Union, 
which might be on the same day: suppose, secondly, that 
an overwhelming majority of all the voters and of the. 
States had been cast for the deceased candidate, in such 
a case the will of the people would be defeated ; and, un- 
less a Constitutional provision was made for such a con- 
tingency, the consequence might he serious. Bat, through 
the agency of the electors chosen by the friends of the de- 
ceased candidate, the will of the majority could be so far 



Z2 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM.' 

carried out as to choose for president an individual enter-' 
taining the same sentiments and principles of the deceas- 
ed candidate. Again : one of the candidates for the pres- 
idency might die, a week or two before the election, in 
time for his death to be known to every voter before a vote 
was cast, but not in time for the friends of the deceased 
to select and agree upon a candidate, and in which case 
the sentiments and principles of an overwhelming majori- 
ty might be defeated, anil a small minority succeed in 
electing a President. That no such case as the writer has 
supposed, has taken place, is no evidence that such a case 
never will occur. Should our political mstitutions be pre- 
served through time, it is more than probable, almost cer- 
tain, that just such a case as is supposed will occur. The 
amendment proposed by Gen. Jackson, would, if it had 
been adopted, have constituted a change in the Constitu- 
tion, but not a reform. The amendment proposed could 
not be productive of any good, but might be productive 
of great inconvenience and mischief. The writer frequent- 
ly expressed his admiration of many, not all, of the max- 
ims and recommendations of president Jackson, but his^ 
recommendation of an amendment of the Constitution in 
relation to the election of president and vice president, 
confirms his opinion of the truth of the adage, ''that a 
great man may speak and act unwisely." It will be rec- 
ollected that Mr. Jefferson once entertained the opinion, 
that a navy of gun-boats was better adapted to our nation- 
al defence and to the genius of our political iustitutions, 
than frigates and ships of the line; but in the true Sf.irit 
of an honest statesman, he yielded his theory to the teach- 
ings of experience. The writer is as decidedly in favor of 
REFORM in every thing which can be improved^ as any 
man in existence ; but the reader will agree with him, that 
trery change in a constitution or form of government is not, 
or may not be a reform, and that what one man would 
pronounce a refoi'm^ another would consider a positive 



POLITICAL EQUILIBHIUM. 33 

evil. How then is a case of this nature to be settled, so as 
to decide which measure would be a reform and which 
would be an evil ? The answer is easy and at hand ; col- 
fect the sentiments of the entire people of the state or na- 
tion, through representatives chosen by the voters, and as- 
semble the representatives in council. Although some of 
the voters might choose their representatives under the 
influence of great excitement, the voters in a majority of 
the counties might act and vote deliberately. But sup- 
pose that the voters throughout a State or nation should 
cast their votes when in a high state of excitement and 
passion ; — their representatives, w^hen assembled in coun- 
cil, might be calm, calculating, and deliberative ; but sup- 
pose that the representatives carried with them into the 
legislative halls, the same excited feelings and principles 
which influence the voters on the day of the election; (the 
writer has supposed an extrem.e case — one scarcely sup- 
posable ; but he will consider the case as having actually 
taken place;) the furious delegates representing every 
county in a State, or district in a nation, would bring v.'ith 
them conflicting sectional interests, which could only be 
settled by a compromise ; this would lead to a better tem- 
per, and if good feeling was not fully restored, the diflfer- 
ent conflicting sectional interests would force a compro- 
mise and agreement. A legislative body thus composed, 
might be compared to several individuals, bitter enemies 
to each other, placed in a boat supplied with oars, and 
launched in a boisterous sea, a distance from shore, and 
driven further from it by the tempest; if they united in their 
efforts, they might succeed in rowing the boat to land, and 
every foot gained would lessen the danger and render the 
labor easier ; but if they made no effort to save themselves, 
inevitable destruction would be the consequence, unless 
they received aid from some other source. 

Utterly disclaiming any personal allusion, or application 
to any political party, every jacobine disorganizer is a pro- 
c 



34 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 

fessed reformer ; there is not an exception. He labors to 
captivate by the imposing term, reform, without defining 
or illustrating his principles ; and to excite, by presenting 
imaginary evils, or magnifying real ones ; urges the pop- 
ulace to forcible resistance to the laws, in place of peacea- 
ble and legal correctives. Between extremes there is as 
certainly a just and wholesome medium as it is certain 
that there is a centre to a circle ; and if, in the formation 
of government, we run into extremes, we lose or weaken 
the necessary checks and balances; and, in proportion, as 
we depart from an equilibrium, the different branches of 
government are in danger of disuniting and producing 
disorder and confusion. The city of Baltimore, and each 
county, sends one senator; one-third of these senators are 
chosen every two years. The city, and each county, sends 
delegates, annually elected, varying in number from three 
to five each, in accordance w^ith a provision of the Con- 
stitution, having regard to territory and population. Sup- 
pose the senator and delegates from said city, and each 
county, acted independently of each other, and laws 
and regulations for the city of Baltimore wholly enacted 
by the senator and delegates chosen for said city — and the 
same in relation to each county — would any sober-mind- 
ed and deliberative man say that such an amendment to 
the Constitution would be a reform? And, yet, the ques- 
tion might be asked, what right has the senator and del- 
egates from Worcester county — bounded by the sea-shore 
— to vote on any bill of a local nature, introduced by the 
senator and delegates of Washington county for the spe- 
cial use and benefit of the people of said county? The 
answer is : for just the same wholesome reason that the 
senator and delegates of Washington county have to vote 
on a local bill for the use and benefit of the people of Wor- 
cester, and to keep up an equilibrium and prevent a dis- 
solution of government. 

Barring against an extreme, the more counties a State 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 35 

is divided into the less will be the disposition and power 
of the majority to proscribe the minority — the greater the 
disposition to compromise and legislate upon enlighten- 
ed, liberal and just principles. If the number of counties 
in Maryland were doubled — forty in place of twenty — ad- 
hering to the same number of senators and delegates as at 
present ; giving each county one or more delegates, in 
proportion to population; and forming the counties into 
twenty-one senatorial districts^ sending each, one senator; 
it would be an improvement. Conflicting interest, divi- 
ded by forty- one instead of twenty-one, ^vould be more 
easily compromised upon just principles. The conflicting 
interests between the upper and low-er sections of the State 
v/ould be easily approached from the centre, and mountains 
reduced to mole hills, and difficulties submerged in a spirit 
of compromise approaching as near as possible to an equi- 
librium. Those representatives whose interests were nearly 
alike, would act as arbitrators between those whose inter- 
ests w^ere so very different, whilst the latter would hold a 
wholesome controling power and check over their arbitra- 
tors. ' The latter class in a State thus situated might be 
compared to the main-spring of a watch; and those remote 
from it, to the machinery connected with it ; and interest 
would dic<"ate to all the absolute necessity of compromise 
and mutual forbearance upon just principles. 

To protect, alike, as well the natural and acquired 
rights of rich and poor; preserve order and harmony— 
without which life is insecure— it is as necessary that the 
different branches of government should be connected with 
each other, to unite strength and durability, as it is neces- 
sary that the different materials which form the body and 
interior of a house should be cemented, bound and rivet- 
ed together, to secure the lives and comfort of the inmates. 
In the former case, the body of the people is the founda- 
tion upon which the moral and political structure should 
be reared, with due regard to checks and balances and 



36 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

equilibriumSj to prevent the structure from warping. A 
just medium should be observed ; avoiding extremes — 
having respect to safety and durability as well as beauty of 
theory. Without an appointing power, created by the 
people, there w^ll be a want of deliberation. The waiter 
is as decidedly in favor as any man is of electing, by the 
popular voice, the president and vice-president, members 
of the H. of R. of the United States, governors of the 
States, both branches of the Legislature, and sheriffs; to 
which some other persons, to be clothed with authority, 
might be added without v/eakening the moral and physi- 
cal strength of the people, or rendering their rights less 
secure. But there is certainly a medium; and if the peo- 
ple fall short of it, or go beyond it, they weaken their 
strength and endanger their rights. 

It has been said that to appoint judges of courts, coun- 
ty clerks, registers of wills, justices of the peace, &c., by 
the Legislature, deprives the poor man of his right to 
vote. There would be as much sense and truth in saying 
that it deprives the rich man of the same right. Persons 
appointed to office by the Legislature are not elected by 
the direct vote of rich or poor, and both are placed upon 
the same footing — a proposition plain enough for a man 
of the most moderate comprehension, and the writer will 
offer no arguments in support of a self-evident fact. If the 
writer was to, suggest an amendment to the Constitution, 
in reference to judges, it would be to insert a provision 
prohibiting any judge of a court from sitting in the coun- 
ty or district in which he resides. The less intercourse or 
acquaintance a judge has with the people over whom he 
presides, the more free will his mind be from bias or pre- 
judice. An unrighteoas judge, knowing the principles of 
law, but not under religious or moral restraint, might, and 
probably would, give righteous decisions in every case in 
which he was wholly unacquainted with the parties and 
the people. A judge thus situated would be governed in 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 37 

his decision upon a question of law by the same princi- 
ples which govern a tutor in teaching his scholars — the 
'principles of arithmetic. In the foregoing, the writer dis- 
claims any personal allusion. No State in the Union has 
a judiciary of sounder integrity, or more brilliant talents, 
than Maryland ; and no State, perhaps, has produced a 
greater number of able jurists. 

In concluding this chapter, the writer distinctly says that 
he considers a representative democratic form of govern- 
ment, with checks and balances for its preservation, and 
deriving all its power from the majority of the voters, the 
only rational form of government upon earth, and the best 
calculated to preserve the rights of all with the least pres- 
sure. Notwithstanding, under a democratic form of gov- 
ernment, the majority, which must, necessarily, be the de- 
mocracy^ never fail to proscribe the minority in reference 
to offices, it springs from a trait in human nature to which 
an exception cannot be produced, except, only, as to the 
extent of the proscription. Every party, when it consti- 
tuted the democracy of numbers, proscribed, to a greater 
or less degree, the minority in reference to officers, i, e.. 
*'the loaves and fishes ;" but under an aristocratic or mon- 
archial form of government, the minority rule the democ 
racy, and have never failed to proscribe and oppress. It 
is safer to trust to the democracy than to the minority. — 
The writer cannot conceive that there is either sense or 
justice in the m.inority ruling the democracy. If the de- 
mocracy fail to secure to all the peaceable enjoyment of 
their natural and acquired rights, in vain may they look 
for security from a minority. Government, in its best 
form, is said to be a necessary evil ; in its worst form, an 
intolerable one. The w^riter w^ill not hazard an opinion 
as to whether government would, or would not, be neces- 
sary, if the whole human family were in a state of perfec- 
tion. The question is too metaphysical for him; and if it 
could be decided, he is not aware that its solution would 



38 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

be beneficial to the human family. That the human race is 
not perfect, and that government is necessary, are admitted. 

It would be difficult, if not impossible, for a candidate 
tc appear before the people, at a popular election, without 
identifying himself with a party; but it is the duty of a 
representative, on reaching a legislative hall, to act with 
the single object of promoting the general good and pub- 
lic welfare. A representative v;ho would support or op- 
pose any measure upon party ground, without reference to 
its merit or demerit, would be an unsafe representative, 
and wholly unworthy of confidence. Representatives 
should act upon the same principles as jurors. The moral 
obligation upon them, so to act, is, or ought io be equal- 
ly binding. If judges and jurors were sv/ayed, in their de- 
cisions, by party considerations, courts of justice could 
only exist in name^ not in reality. ''Is he a whig r" or, 
^'is he a democrat?" is an inquiry frequently made in ref- 
erence to a candidate, and to which there can be no mor- 
al objection. But v/ould not the question, in reference 
to R juror J produce an unpleasant sensation ! When the 
question is asked in reference to a representative, ought 
it to be understood that he will be governed by party con- 
siderations without regard to the interest, happiness and 
prosperity of the people? A man may properly appear as 
the candidate of a party, but, if elected, he ought to be 
the representative of the people. 

A representative who would not be governed by the 
teachings of experience and the dictates of his reason — 
with the single and only motive of advancing the good of 
all — would be not only an improper, but a dangerous, rep- 
resentative. To err, is human — it is the lot of imperfect 
man. Unintentional error, though it may and often has 
produced great evil, is more or less excusable ; but no man 
can be influenced by correct motives who is governed by 
party considerations in opposition to his own sense of right. 

It is generally conceded that the most liberal form of 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 39 

government has a natural tendency to monarchy ; and it 
is a fact vrorthy of serious and abiding consideration, that 
all old governments are, in the common acceptation of the 
term, monarchal, or, more or less aristocratic, — our own 
is not free from the latter, in som.e of its most important 
features. Liberty v/ithout restriction, would be synony- 
'aious with licentiousness, and the great difficulty in fix- 
ing wholesome restraints (which never has been over- 
come,) is the decider atum J w^hich, to speak figuratively, 
would be to discover the philosopher's stone. Man is 
ambitious, and as he gains power, gradually looses sight 
of right, and in proportion, as he advances in potency his 
desire for supremacy increases, until he becomes a haugh- 
ty tyrant. History proves this true in a national sense, 
and if v/e commence with the inaugeration of the Father 
of our country and closely and accurately examine the 
progress of our own government, (not as old as the wtI- 
ter,) we will find that it has dispensed with much, of its 
republican simplicity. Politically or figuratively, it has 
dofFM its homespun dress, and is clothed with gaudy robes 
of royalty, superfluity and extravagance. 

Some ancient v/riters asserted that the leaven of aristoc- 
racy is necessary as a cement to government, and as af- 
fording the best security for life and acquired rights, 
preserving order and tranquility. To which the writer dis- 
sents ; unless the representative features; through which 
the government derives its power from the people, is an 
asistocratic principle, which he cannot admit. Besides in 
aristocratic governments, outbreaks and violent resistance 
of the laws are frequent, and military power is necessary 
to enforce obedience. But under a representative form of 
government, organized with cheeks and balances ; hav- 
ing in view the equal protection of all, the motives to for- 
cible resistance must be less than under monarchal or ar- 
istocratic governments. 

As education and intelligence is increasing throughout 



40 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the Union, it is scarcely conceivable that any considerable 
portion of the people will ever forcibly resist the laws ; 
but that constitutional and peaceable means will be used 
to cure any defects which may appear, and also correct 
any abuses in the application of the laws. Intelligence 
founded upon the precepts of Christianity is the best ce- 
ment for our political institutions and the strongest secu- 
rity for their continuance. 



CHAPTER IL 



On Internal Improvements. 



Politicians and statesmen of equal intelligence, and 
'whose attachment to our political institutions cannot be 
doubted by an unprejudiced and well regulated mind, are 
at issue upon this important subject. A portion of each 
political party being for and against the power, or right, 
on the part of the federal government to make Internal 
Improvements. The affirmatives and negatives have ne^- 
er been confined to any political party which has existed 
since the formation of our national existence. And, as 
our most enlightened and pure statesmen are divided upon 
this interesting question; the writer trusts that his senti- 
ments will not be denounced as vain or intrusive : if he 
cannot convince, he has no desire to offend. 

Internal Improvements means something physical, fix- 
ed or constructed within the limits of the United States 
or Territories — this will not, it is believed, be controvert- 
ed. The construction of a break-v/ater on the Delaware, 
and removal of an obstruction from the Mississippi are, 
Itlike internal; whether done by the federal or State gov- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 41 

ernments; and the writer will not use arguments in sup- 
port of premises which appear to him to be self-evident. 
The constitutionality of building forts for the protection 
of our sea-ports, and erection of light-houses, break-wa- 
ters, buoys and fixtures for the protection of commerce, 
by Congress has never been questioned. The foregoing 
works are in the true sense and meaning of the term, In- 
ternal Improvements ; as much so as the removing of ob- 
structions from the Ohio or any ether river, for the safety 
of navigation and commerce. Internal Improvements, 
cannot loose their national character and connection w^ith 
the '^common defence and general welfare of the United 
States," by being located above tide water. See Consti- 
tution, Art. 1st, 8ih Section. The caption to that ven- 
erated chart of Political Faith, speaks of "the general 
welfare" as one of the primary and most important ob- 
jects to be secured. On reference \o one of the articles in 
the section under consideration, it will be observed that 
Congress, cannot without \he consent of the State Legis- 
lature, purchase of the ground necessary, to erect "forts, 
magazines, arsenals, dock yards, and other useful build- 
ings r" All of which properly come under the caption 
of "Internal Improvements," no matter wdiether their lo- 
cation is above or below the head of tide water. 

Some works of Internal Improvement are, in familliar 
language, more national in their character than others, or 
are more general in their tendency. It has never been 
asserted by the advocates of Internal Improvements by 
the general government, that Congress has a right to ex- 
ercise the power, without first obtaining the consent of 
the State or States, in which such internal works are to 
be done ; as in the building of "forts, magazines, &c." 

It was evidently the intention of the v>4se and patriotic 
framers of the Constitution, to render the federal and State 
governments dej)endent upon^ and not independerit of e?ich 
other, the better to "insure domestic tranquility" and 



42 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

promote the general welfare." Although it is not sup* 
posable that any State in the Union will ever withhold its 
consent to the federal government to purchase and hold 
ground ; sufficient for light-houses, forts and other nation- 
al purposes ; yet, if the Constitution had granted to Con- 
gress such right Vv^ithout asking or obtaining the consent 
of the State or States, it would have been considered by 
the latter oppressive ; and would have produced unkind 
feelings, if not collision between the federal and State au- 
thorities. An individual who would willingly sellhisfarm 
for fifty dollars per acre and remove from the State, \vould 
not like to be compelled to sell at that price and be ban- 
ished, like a criminal. Neither individuals oi communi- 
ties like to be forced into measures. 

The federal and State institutions are inter- vvoven^ con- 
nected and dependent upon each other by wholesome ties 
of reciprocity : in national compact ; having in view^ pro- 
tection from foreign aggression, and the prom.otion of 
peace and tranquility at home. The national character of 
Internal Iniprovement is not fixed and determined, exclu- 
sively^ by location, cost, extention or effects produced by 
the work or fixtures. If the safety and protection of com- 
merce with Richmond, Virginia, required a break-water 
at a cost often thousand dollars, and New York required 
a similar work at an expense of half a million, the latter 
would not be more national in its true character than the 
former ; though affording protection to a greater number 
of vessels and a larger amount of commerce, and more 
general in its benefits, not in its true national character. — 
The smallest State in the Union, is as positively a portion 
of the confederacy and as national in its character and lo- 
cation as is the largest. And, if any foreign power, or 
State should oppress or invade the smallest member of 
the compact, the general government Would be bound by 
the Constitution, interest and reciprocal justice to support 
and protect such state. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 43 

Every road, fortification, light-house and fixtures of ev- 
ery kind ; as, also, every river and harbour must neces- 
sarily have a location ; as certainly so as a mountain or 
a valley. The period is not remote when the amount and 
value of agricultural and other articles, foreign and domes- 
tic, which will pass down and up the ivlississippi and its 
tributaries, will equal, if not exceed, the foreign and do- 
mestic commerce of any sea port upon the globe. Those 
who deny that Congress has a constitutional right to make 
appropriations for internal improvements, would concede 
a right to remove any obstruction to commerce in the riv- 
er below New Orleans, or for a break-water, light-house, 
or for deepening the channel, or any thing else for the 
protection and safety of commerce ; but would deny that 
such rights extended above the city. 

It has been asserted that the right claimed to make and 
construct v/orks of Internal Improvement by Congress, 
Vv'Ould, if carried out, svv^allow up State rights — that Vvc 
would have a consolidated government. Now as Cong 
ress has never claimed a right to build a lort or fixture of 
any kind, or improve the navigation of any river or har- 
bour or make a road in any State, or make an appropria- 
tion for any purpose, W' ithout the consent of the State in 
which such work or improvement was to be made ; the 
writer cannot conceive how the rights of the States are 
invaded or disturbed in the slightest degree, by Congress 
acting in unison with a State or States for the safety and 
protection of life and property on our lakes, rivers, har- 
bours, roads, &c. The exercise of the power has, also, 
been objected to on the supposition that Congress might 
make improvements or appropriations to an extravagant, 
oppressive' and injurious extent, involve the nation in debt 
and oppress the people by direct taxation throughout all 
generations. 

To the foregoing objections the writer will remark v/ith 
deference, to the m.any able statesmen with whom he dif- 



44 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

fers in opinion, that upon the same principle upon which 
the objections are made, the constitutional power clearly 
given to Congress, ''to raise and support armies. To 
provide and maintain a navy," without limitation in either 
case, should be abolished. Under the pow^ers clearly giv- 
en, Congress might raise and support an army of five 
hundred thousand men, and navy of a thousand ships or 
more. Bat the principle in the objections goes still fur- 
ther; if carried out it would take from Congress the pow- 
er of fixing their per diem and mileage, for the services 
and traveling expenses to its owm members; and also of 
the powder of allowing salaries, per diems, and fees to the 
various officers connected with the government at home 
and abroad, least they should abuse the powers given and 
run into extravagance and prodigality. Nor does the ob- 
jection stop here. It virtually denounces, not only the 
representatives and numerous officers of government, but 
the body of the people as utterly incompetent of judging 
as to what m.easure would be best calculated to add to 
their interest and comfort, improve the country and ''pro- 
mote the general welfare." In a Ivord it strikes at the 
foundation of every form of government, and compact ; 
virtually declares man in an individual and collective body 
as destitute of the reasoning faculty, or of discrimination, 
upon any measures or questions w^hatever, A nation or 
State may go in advance of its convenient means in works 
of Internal Improvement, as has Maryland ; so may an in- 
dividual in the construction of buildings on his land. 

It has long been a maxim wdth the w^riter, that eveiy 
thing physical and moral, under the government and con- 
trol of human hands and minds, may be carried or exer- 
cised to an injurious extent. There cannot, be named an 
exception to the truth of the maxim. A power connected 
with all the means w^hich could be added, to do good 
would unavoidably carry with it a powder to do evil — no 
exception can be produced. It would be difficult, if not 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 45 

impossible, to place a man in a situation so guarded that 
he could do no harm, without depriving him of all 
power to do good. Any man from the most exalted to 
the most debased has the power to do more harm than 
good. One of the most depraved could set fire to a city 
and do other acts of atrocity ; and a weak, ambitious or 
corrupt head of a nation, might involve it in an unneces- 
sary, unjust and expensive war, and bring other evils up- 
on the country. One nation might suffer from the imbe- 
cility or indiscretion of its rulers, and another from their 
corruption. Statesmen writing constitutions and enact- 
ing laws, should take care as well to protect the natural 
and acquired rights of man, as to guard against his vices. 
But it would be impossible to form or word a constitu- 
tion in such language as to render those who would act 
under it, Solomon's in wisdom, and judgment ; and Sam- 
son's, in strength, or deprive them of the power or liabil- 
ity to do wrong either wilfully or unintentionally. Be- 
sides what one man might conscientiously believe would 
be productive of great and general benefit, another of 
equal intelligence and patriotism, might believe would be 
productive of a positive and great evil ; in such a case 
time and experience would be required to decide the ques- 
tion ; and both might be in error in whole or in part. 

The writer has before him a Report from the Hon. W. 
L. Marcy, Secretary of War, communicated to the Senate 
of the United States, on the 7th January 1847, in com- 
pliance with a resolutiop of the Senate of the 21st De- 
cember previous. It states the amount of appropriations 
for improvmg the navigation of rivers and harbours, and 
the construction and repair of roads. It commences with 
the year 1808, and ends with 1845 inclusive. In the lan- 
guage of the report : ''I have the honor to submit a state- 
ment of appropriations for the construction and repairs of 
roads, and for the improvement of harbours and rivers in 
the United Statas, showing, as far as practicable, the a- 
mounts exnended in each State," 



46 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

"The stateraent exhibits the item in each case, in con- 
formity with the appropriation, by which the kind and 
character of the improvement directed will be known. — * 
There is, also, at the end of the statement, a recapitula- 
tion, showing, as far as practicable, in what States the 
expenditures have been made ; also a second recapitula- 
tion, showing the years in which the appropriations were 
made, and the amounts appropriated in each year." 

The writer is under obligations to the Hon. Andrew 
Stewart, and Hon. J. Dixon Roman members of Congress, 
for the important document referred to, and also, for oth- 
er valuable papers. 

The writer would embody in this Chapter, the Ptcport 
referred to, every line, word and figure, were it not for the 
consideration that general readers would not take the time 
and trouble necessary to make the recapitulations. But 
he will insert, without limitation, the two statistical ta- 
bles, or recapitulations in the Report, and which seem to 
him to render the publication of the entire document un- 
necessary. The amount expended, exclusive of the ex- 
pense of surveys, was $17,198,222. 

Now for the amount under the administration of each 
of the following; Presidents : 



Presidents. 


Years. 


Aj: 


ouNT Expended 


Jefferson, 


S 




48,400 


Madison, 


8 




250,800 


Monroe, 


8 




706,621 


J. Q. Adams 


4 




2,310,475 


Jackson, 


8 




10,582,882 


Van Buren, 


4 




2,222,544 


Tyler, 


4 




1,076,500 



Total. 44 $17,198,222 

President Harrison, it will be reccollected died just one 
month after his Inauguration, and Congress w^as not in 
session durin^:^ his brief administration. Within the time 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 47 

covered by the report^the progress of Internal Improvement 
was arrested by vetoes; bills having passed which were 
considered not sufficiently national in their character by the 
President, to obtain his approvah 

Louisiana was not ceded to the U. States until 1803, 
up to which period the settlement of the country did not 
generally extend more than a summer's day w^alk above 
the head of tide water. Consequently, but little attention 
was paid to the navigation of rivers above tide Vv'ater; and 
the commerce and revenue of the country did not admit 
of large appropriations for improvements above or below" it. 
These facts will account for the comparatively small appro- 
priations under the administration of Mr. Jefferson. Mr. 
Madison succeeded Mr. Jefferson in 1806, under great 
commercial restrictions, and the war of 1812 followed. — 
During his administration the interruption to our commerce 
and the debt of the war, left but little at the disposal of 
the general government for works of Internal Improve- 
ment. 

By the foregoing table it will be seen that President 
Jackson, who is often cited as arresting the progress of 
Internal Improvements by the general government, actual- 
ly approved of bills making appropriations for such works, 
to more than half the amount appropriated through a per- 
iod of 44 successive years. In May 1830, during the 
first session of Congress after the commencement of his 
administration, he vetoed the bill for the Maysville, Wash- 
ington, Paris and Lexington Turnpike-road Company." 
In his veto message housed this language, "Every mem- 
ber of the Union, in peace or in war, will be benefited by 
the improvement of inland navigation, and the construc- 
tion of high-ways in the several States." The foregoing 
is sensible and appropriate language. Let not the head 
say to the hand or finger, I have no use for you. Dela- 
vv\are and Rhode Island have locations in the galaxy of 
States, are links in the confederacy, and rivers and roads 



48 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

are necessary for transportation and travel. The Presi* 
dent objected to the bill as not sufficiently national in its 
character, for says the message,— ''What is properly na- 
tional in its character or otherwise, is an inquiry which is 
often difficult of solution. The appropriations of one year, 
for an object which is considered national, may be ren- 
dered nugatory by the refusal of a succeeding Congress 
to continue the work en the ground that it is local."-- 
Very true, and the same ditficulty will occur so long as 
the American People are left free to think and speak their 
sentiments; and few, if any, legislative acts, could be so 
worded as to meet the approbation of the people under 
all circumstances and throughout all time. And no amend- 
ment of the Constitution could settle the question, with- 
out trameling the mind and withholding from the people 
the right of self government. It is not presumable that 
there could be found in the United States a dozen sensi- 
ble sober-minded men who would be willing to see the 
Constitution so amended as to prohibit Congress, under 
any circumstances w^hatever, from making appropriations 
for Internal Improvements of a national character. — - 
And if the right w^as plainly written, without the aid of 
construction, that Congress shall have powder to appro- 
priate money for Internal Improvements of a national, 
but not of a local character ; then the same difficulty would 
arise. What is national and what is local? Though some 
improvements might be more national, or general, in their 
character and bearing than others, we might as well talk 
about building castles in the air, as to construct a road or 
improve the navigation of a river without a location to 
act upon. The Capitol at Washington is national in its 
character, but local in its situation and place, as much so, 
as the house in which the writer is seated. 

The veto says, ^'But, although I might not feel it to be 
my official duty to interpose the executive veto to the pas- 
sage of a bill appropriating money for the construction of 



POLITIGAL EQUILIBRIUM. 49 

such works as are authorized by the States, and are na- 
tional in their character, I do not wish to be understood 
as expressing an opinion that it is expedient at this time, 
for the general government to embark in a system of this 
kind ; and anxious that my constituents should be pos- 
sessed of my views on this as well as on all other subjects 
which they have committed to my discretion, I shall state 
them frankly and briefly." The writer would quote the 
veto without limitation, but for its great length ; the word 
^'briefly" is carried to great prolixity. 

The veto under consideration is strongly for and against 
the system of Internal Improvement by the federal gov- 
ernment ; the jpros, and cons, appear to the writer, to be 
about equal, so far as expediency is concerned, whilst the 
constitutionality is plainly admitted for works of a nation- 
al character. The President exercised the prerogative of 
judging whether the bills for appropriations for Internal 
Improvements were national or local in their bearing, and 
decided accordingly. His friends acquiesced in his de- 
cisions ; but whether they made a virtue of necessity, or 
verily believed that all the wisdom and orthodoxy of the 
nation were concentrated in him, and that he could neither 
think or act wron^^ are Questions submitted to the decision 
of the reader. 

Near the close of the same session, two Internal Im- 
provement bills were passed and presented to him but not 
returned. In his second annual message, he said, ^'Al- 
most at the adjournment of your last session, two bi]ls, 
the one entitled *^^An act for making appropriations for 
building light-houses, light-boats, beacons, and monu- 
ments, placing buoys, and for improving harbors and di- 
recting surveys," and the other, '-An act to authorize a 
subscription for stock in the Lewisville and Portland Ca- 
nal Company," were submitted for my approval. It was 
not possible, within the time allowed me,, before the close 
of the session, to give to these bills the consideration 

D 



50 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

which was due to their character and importance ; and X 
was compelled to retain them for that purpose. I now 
avail myself of this early opportunity to return them to 
the houses in which they respectively originated, with 
the reasons which, after mature deliberation, compel me 
to withhold my approval." 

He added in the next paragraph. ''The practice of de- 
fraying out of the treasury of the United States, the ex- 
penses incurred by the establishment and support of light- 
houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers, within the 
bays, inlets, harbors and ports within the United States, 
to render the navigation safe and easy, is coeval with the 
adoption of the Constitutionand has been continued with- 
out interruption or dispute." The language of President 
Jackson in the foregoing cannot be misunderstood by an 
intelligent man w^illing to understand what the President 
did say ; and no honorable man would knowingly distort 
or misrepresent the plain meaning and import of his words. 
He unequivocally conceeded to the federal government 
the constitutional right to make Internal Improvements 
connected vrith water, for the broad and necessary nation- 
al purposes distinctly stated by him. "Bays, inlets, and 
harbors," will apply to rivers and lakes abave tide water, 
this will not be controverted by an intelligent and unpre- 
judiced mind. And it will be seen that he sanctioued In* 
ternal Improvements on terra firma as well as on water. 

The President continued. ''As our foreign commerce 
increased, and was extended into the interior of the coun- 
try, by the establishment of ports of entry and delivery 
upon our navigable rivers, the sphere of these expendi- 
tures received a corresponding enlargement. Light-hous- 
es, beacons, buoys, public piers, and the removal of sand- 
bars, sawyers, and other partial or temporary impedi- 
ments in the navigable rivers and harbors which were em- 
braced in the revenue districts from time to time establish- 
ed by law, were authorised, upon the same principle, and 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 51 

the expense defrayed in the same manner. That these ex- 
penses have at times been extravagant and disproportion- 
ate is very probable. The circumstances under which 
they are incurred are well calculated to lead to such a re- 
sultjunless their application is subjected to the closest scru- 
tiny. The local advantages arising from the disbursement 
of public money too frequently, it is to be feared, invite ap- 
propriations for objects of this character that are neither 
necessary nor useful." The foregoing has reference to 
ports of entry heloio the head of tide water on our rivers, 
and to ports on the lakes and their navigable inlets. But 
the President, as if desirous that the people should know 
that he favored roads and canals above tide water and the 
improvement of the navigation of the lakes and their trib- 
utaries, to cheapen the transportation of such foreign ar- 
ticles as would be required by the inhabitants settled fur- 
ther in the interior than the ports of entry ; and also to 
cheapen the conveyance cf their surplus productions to 
ports of entry, spoke definitely upon that subject. 

He said, ''In my objections to the Maysville and Rock- 
ville Road Companies, I expressed my views fully in re- 
gard to the power of Congress to construct roads and 
canals within a State, or appropriate money for improve- 
ments of a local character. I at the same time intimated 
my belief that the right to make appropriations for such 
as were of a national character^ had been so generally act- 
ed upon, and so long acquiesced m by the federal and state 
governments, and constitutions of each, as to justify its 
exercise on the ground of continued and uninterrupted 
usage; but that it was, nevertheless, highly expedient, that 
appropriations, even of that character, should, with the 
exception made at the time be deferred until the national 
debt is paid, and that in the mean while, some general 
rule for the action of the government in that respect ought 
to be established." The italicising is the waiters'. Tlie 
President seemed determined not to be misunderstood up- 



52 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 

on the important subject: he referred to "continued and 
uninterrupted usage," strong and appropriate language in 
support cf the power of Congress to make Internal Im- 
provements of a national character. In many cases it may 
be diificult to draw the line betw^een improvements which 
are national and those which are local, as both are synon- 
ymous terms in a physical sense ; both must have loca- 
tions. The nearest approach which can be made to a de- 
sideratum is to submit the subject to the legislation of 
Congress ; — the representatives of the people, in accord- 
ance with the genius, spirit and intention of oar political 
institutions, in preference to the supposed infalible judg- 
ment or the caprice of one man. It matters not as to the 
effect, whether the 07ie man power is used by a President 
or an Emperor, the principle is anti-democratic. 

Our Constitution and form of government in its legis- 
lative branch, was certainly intended to carry out the will 
of the people who are of right the sovereigns — the legiti- 
mate source of power — and they can only speak consti- 
tutionally through their representatives. 

The governments of ancient Greece were unrestricted 
democracies. Every freeman was a member of the as- 
sembly and voted personally in the Assembly of the peo- 
ple; unless he was voluntarily absent, U'bich, doubtless^ 
was generally the case with a majority of freemen. A sim- 
ple democracy, which would require the body of voters of 
the United States to meet at Washington, or any other 
place in the Union, and form themselves into a legislative 
body, and thus transact the business of the nation, would 
be impracticable, and no argument upon the subject is 
necessary. If the people cannot trusttheir representatives, 
chosen by themselves, to whom are they to look as more^ 
worthy of their confidence? In the language of Mr. Jef- 
ferson, "have we found angels in the form of kings to 
govern?" Oris a President more likely to know the wish- 
es and interests of the whole people, than their represent- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 53 

atives ? or will he always be more wise and sound in judg- 
ment? If yei, the legislative branch of the government 
should be abolished, and its place supplied by the ivisdom 
and inf alible judgment of a President. If it be said that 
if Congress continued to exercise the power of making 
appropriitions for Internal Improvements, that the power 
may be abused ; just the same may in truth be said of all 
the powers granted, and of all that could be granted, 
every man in the nation, from the most humble to the most 
exalted has the power, positively, to do more, yes, more 
harm than good But reason teaches that "in a multitude 
of counsel there is safety," in a comparative point of view. 
The President, as before stated, conceeded the power of 
Congress to make appropriations for Internal Improve- 
ments of a national character, and, as w^ill more fully ap- 
pear from documental authority, approved of Internal Im- 
provement bills amounting to more than ten millions of 
dollars. His arguments for and against the exercise of 
the power of Congress on the subject under consideration, 
appear to the writer about equal. And his objections to 
the vetoed bills were that they were local, not national in 
their cha acter, and the veto was applied. 

No nation ever did or ever can prosper without Inter- 
nal Improvements, which generally commences with sub- 
duing the forest, locating roads, building houses, &c. We 
might as well expect to live comfortably without dwelling 
houses as to advance in national prosperity without the 
aid of Internal Improvements. Nations and mdividuals act 
more for the benefit of posterity, than for their own com- 
fort. We often see men at the age of sixty and even older, 
planting orchards, building houses, and enlarging their 
possessions; not for their special benefit, ease and com- 
fort, but for the benefit of those who will live after them. 
The writer is not aware that the application or withhold- 
ing of king veto, or the triumph or defeat of any political 
party or measures, would materially effect him in any point 
of view. He h^s but a short time to live and but few day^ 



54 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 



to provide for ; but he has children who are identified with 
society and interested in the destiny of the country ; and 
he, in common with others, feels a deep interest and so- 
licitude for the w^elfare and prosperity of the Union, and 
the human race. 

The attention of the reader is invited to a close exami- 
nation of the following tables from the highest official au- 
thority, showing the amount expended in each State: 

States and Territories. Amount. 

Maine $276,574 72 

New Hampshire 10,000 00 

Massachusetts 526,148 22 

Vermont 101,000 00 

Rhode Island 32,006 00 

Connecticut 160,407 26 

New York 1,632,115 80 

New Jersey 28,963 00 

Pennsylvania 207,951 23 

Pennsylvania and Delaware 38,413 00 

Delaware 2,038,356 00 
Maryland, Penna. and Virginia 1,901,227 81 

Maryland 55,000 00 

Virginia 25,000 00 

North Carolina 370,377 00 

Georgia 243,043 06 

Florida 287,712 72 

Alabama 204,997 60 

Mississippi 46,500 00 

Louisiana 717,200 00 

Tennessee 11,920 00 

Kentucky and Tennessee 155,000 00 

Arkansas 486,065 00 

Missouri and Arkansas 100,000 00 

Missouri 75,000 00 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 



56 



States and Territories, 

States through which the western 
rivers pass, (the Ohio, Missis- 
sippi, Missouri, and Arkansas) 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Ohio 

Michigan 

Wisconsin Territory 

Iowa Territory- 



Amount. 



1,698,000 00 

1,270,733 59 

993,601 00 

2,617,661 37 

645,724 83 

167,500 00 

75,000 00 

17,199,223 21 



AMOUNTS APPROPRIATED IN EACH YEAR. 



Year. 



Amount. 



Year. 



Amount. 



1806 


$48,400 00 


1831 


$926,311 84 


1810 


60,000 00 


1832 


1,225,008 43 


1811 


50,000 00 


1833 


1,159,451 82 


1812 


30,800 00 


1834 


1,641,621 52 


1815 


100,000 00 


1835 


1,352,243 61 


1816 


10,000 00 


1836 


1,837,520 31 


1817 


4,000 00 


1837 


1,768,218 63 


1818 


317,989 60 


1838* 


2,087,044 16 


1823 


32,920 00 


1839 


60,500 00 


1824 


175,000 00 


1841 


75,000 00 


1825 


176,712 00 


1842 


100,000 00 


1826 


284,253 00 


1843 


230,000 00 


1827 


398,541 45 


1844 


696,500 00 


1828 


1,020,120 56 


1845 


50,000 00 


TR2Q 


608,560 25 






J.O*'i7 




1830 


672,506 03 




17,199,223 21 



* The appropriation Jaw of 1838 directed that but a portion (not ex- 
ceeding one half ) of amounts appropriated should be expended in that 
jear. 



56 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

The reader will bear in mind that President Jackson^s 
administration commenced on the 4th of March, 1829^ and 
ended with the close of the 3d of March, 1837. He will 
rIso, bear in mind that the annual sessions commence on 
the first Monday in December, and it seldom occurs that 
a bill of any kind passes before the close of the year. We 
mast therefore commence with the appropriations for In- 
ternal Improvements from the year 1830 to 1837, both in- 
clusive, and the posting up will vary a small fraction from 
Ten Million, Five Hundred and Eighty-two Thousand, 
Eight Hundred and Eighty-two dollars, as stated in the 
first table, more than was appropriated by four of his im- 
mediate predecessors, and by Van Buren and Tyler who 
succeeded him. It should be borne in mind also, that 
after he retired from office, population increased as fast, if 
not faster, than during his administration: and that the 
appropriations were less in amount than during his ad- 
ministration. And notwithstanding these facts. President 
Jackson is held up by his friends as having arrested the 
wild and extravagant system of Internal Improvements, 
He vetoed such bills as he considered local, and appro- 
ved of those which w^ere in his judgment national in their 
character. 

It is worthy of deep and abiding consideration that 
under Prest. Jackson's administration, the whole national 
debt was paid, a large amount of surplus revenue depos- 
ited or loaned to the States; notwithstanding over Ten 
and a half Millions of dollars were appropriated for Inter- 
nal Improvements. The construction of roads, canals, re- 
moval of obstructions from rivers and improving harbors. 
The question now presents inself : Did or did not those 
Internal Improvements increase the revenue, add benefits 
and blessings to the people far greater than the expenses 
of making them, and aid in liquidating: the national debt? 
The question is worthy of the consideration of the unpre- 
judiced reader, who prefers the prosperity of his country 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 57 

to the mere triumph of party, or a party name : measures 
and not party names should be the motto, and governing 
principle. 

The farmer who spends the least money in the cultiva- 
tion and improvement of his land, does not always clear 
the most money. Many industrious, prudent and econom- 
ical farmers pay annually, from five to seven hundred dol- 
lars, or more, to laboring men to till their soil and secure 
their crops. The sober minded statesman can make the 
application. 

On the 23d of June, 1836, ch. 115, Congress passed an 
act directing that, the surplus revenue on the first of Jan- 
uary, 1837, over five miUions, should be deposited with 
the States, in proportion to their representation in the Sen- 
ate and House of Representatives. The payments to be 
made in four instalments, on the first of January, or as 
soon after as ihe balance was ascertained, iVpril, July, and 
October. President Jackson, in his last annual message, 
stated that the surplus revenue would be about Forty-one 
Million, Seven Hundred and Twenty-three Thousand, 
Nine Hundred and Ninety-five dollars. The three first 
instalments amounnting to about thirty-seven and a half 
millions were paid to the States, and the last has been 
withheld. 

In his sixth annual message. President Jackson stated 
his mode of discriminating between local and national 
improvements in the following words: ''Although I have 
expressed to Congress my apprehension that these expen- 
ditures have sometimes been extravagant, and dispropor- 
tionate to the advantage to be derived from them, I have 
not felt it to be my duty to refuse my assent to bills con- 
taining them, and have contented myself to follow in the 
footsteps of all my predecessors. Sensible, however, from 
experience and observation, of the great abuses to w^hich 
the unrestricted exercise oJf this authority by Congress 
was exposed, I have prescribed a limitation for the gov- 



58 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ernment of my own conduct, by which expenditures of 
this character are confined below the ports of entry or de- 
livery established by law." The italicising is the writers. 
If then a port of entry or delivery had been established at 
Cumberland, Maryland ; upon the principle laid down, 
the Potomac ''below," would have been made navigable 
for steam boats. On refering to the Senate document and 
to acts of Congress during his administration, it will be 
seen that he approved of bills making large appropriations 
for improving the navigation of the rivers St. Mark's, 
Ochlochney, Rocambria, Choctawhatchie and other rivers 
and roads in Florida and other States. We must look 
then to his practice, and not to his conflicting precepts to 
arrive at his real sentiments upon this important subject. 

In his eighth and last annual, he takes strong grounds 
against the system of Internal Improvements by Congress; 
thinks it calculated to produce "w^ide spread corruption," 
and yet during that session, the last under his adminis- 
tration, he approved of bills making very large appropri- 
ations for improving the navigation of the Missouri, Mis- 
sissippi, Red River, Ohio and other rivers and creeks ; 
also, for the construction of roads, yes roads. The wri- 
ter would transcribe the acts of Congress, without limita- 
tion, for all those appropriations for Internal Improve- 
ments under Prest. Jackson's administration, but for the 
fact that the price of his book would not justify such an 
extension. President Jackson seemed to have entertain- 
ed the opinion that Congress could not, or ought not, to 
be trusted with the power of making Internal Improve- 
ments after he retired from oiffice. The WTiter does not 
question the motives of the deceased President ; but can- 
not believe that he was infallible in judgment and that the 
wisdom of the nation died with him. 

It is a remarkable fact, that over four-fifths of the ag- 
gregate appropriations by Congress for Internal Improve- 
ments were made under the administration of a party pro- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 59 

fessing to be the exclusive democracy, and with some in- 
dividual exceptions, positively denying that the federal 
government has a right to make such improvements, and 
denounce the whigs for advocating a system which they, 
the democrats, have carried into practice. But although 
the democrats, as a body, thus broadly deny the power 
which they have so freely exercised, yet with few excep- 
tions, they conceede the constitutional right for Congress 
to make Internal Improvements of a clearly national char- 
acter ; and which can only be decided by the people 
through their representatives. 

Another Senate document connected with this import- 
ant subject, printed in January, 1848, and, marked as 
House of Representative document of the present year, 
wull now be considered. It is so neatly, intelligibly and 
correctlv abbreviated by the National Intelligencer of 
the 13th of April last, that the writer will adopt it: — 

This document is a report upon several queries, involv- 
ed in a resolution of the Senate of the previous year. The 
document is itself so condensed that it is very difficult to 
reduce it. 

The report referred to is divided under various heads, 
in conformity with the resolution of the Senate. 

1st. The Commerce of the Lakes, — A consolidated re- 
turn is given of the commerce of forty-one lake towns for 
the year 1846, amounting to ^123,829,821. But of this 
number of towns, no fewer than seventeen have no amount 
of trade stated, ''because no returns have been received 
from them, or because the returns which have been re- 
ceived w^ere too defective to be used." The amount sta- 
ted is therefore in fact only the amount of returns from 
twenty-five of the forty-two of the lake towns and dis- 
tricts enumerated. It is unquestionably on this account 
an amount much below the real value of the lake com- 
merce, for which, however, the industrious author of the 
report is in no wise to blame, as he could not procui:e the 



60 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

returns, and most judiciously confined himself in his re- 
port to data which could not be questioned. The report 
goes on to remark that the amount of returns received is 
no doubt the amount "of a duplicate commerce — the ex- 
ports of one place being the imports of another-" Apply- 
ing this consideration to the amount stated, the report re- 
duces the nett moneyed value of the commerce of the lakes 
for the year 1846, to $61,914,910. 

The report, then, from very sound data, shows that 
''not less than 250,000" persons as passengers traversed 
these lakes in 1846, and supposing the charge on each 
to have averaged the very moderate sum of five dollars, 
it makes the "passenger trade" for that year $1,250,000 
—making a total of $63,161,910. 

Then, from "Treasury Department returns," it is shown 
that the number of mariners employed on the lake trade 
in 1836 was six thousand nine hundred and seventy-two. 

In endeavoring to state the probable increase of the lake 
trade for the future, the author of the report remarks : 

"It is difficult to approach this part of the inquiry with- 
out fear of appearing to exaggerate. Those who knew 
these lakes thirty years ago, and who know them now^, 
will admit that existing facts have baffled human antici- 
pations, and that the wildest speculations of the imagina-^ 
tion have been more than realized by the vast increase of 
their commerce." 

Then taking the subject up under its moneyed value, 
its enrolled and licensed tonnage, and amounts of mer- 
chandise transported, and going back to the year 1841, at 
which period there were regular returns of lake commerce, 
the author of the report shows that under each of these 
aspects the lake trade had increased for the last six years 
at an average rate of more than 17 per cent.; then assum- 
ing this rate of 17 per cent, for the future, the report 
makes the probable nett moneyed value of the lake com- 
merce amount in 1857, to $170,545,257. To this amount 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 61 

the author of the report adds the following remark, in 
which we fully concur: 

''I can see no reason to doubt the correctness of this 
estimate, and feel under no apprehension of being re- 
proached for exaggerating, after ten years shall have pas- 
sed away." 

The report then takes up the ^'commerce of the Wes- 
tern rivers and its probable increase," meaning, under this 
head, the Mississippi and its direct and indirect tributa- 
ries. This subject is treated with the same rigidness, in 
reference to data and closeness of reasoning, applied to 
the couimerce of the lakes. From these the report de- 
duces three nett moneyed values of trade of the Western 
rivers for ihe year 1846, viz : 

First $151,498,701 

Second 190,524,988 

Third 176,694,463 

The report considers the first value too small, giving 
reasons for that opinion. Then "taking the second and 
third as nearer approximations to the truth," it adopts the 
means of these two as the most correct expression of the 
nett value of the commerce of the Western rivers for the 
year 1846, namely, $183,609,725. 

Various considerations are then stated as bases of the 
probable increase of this commerce, of which the follow- 
ing are results : 

For 1850 it will be $274,459,816 

1860 494,027,688 

1870 889,249,802 

The report also treats of the population which depends 
upon the lakes and the Western rivers, as means of com- 
municating with a market, w^hich it makes for the year 
1844 equal to 9,504,952. We observe by the report 'that 
the steamboat navigation of the Mississippi, and its di« 
rect and indirect tributaries, is 16,674 rrules, and that 
these waters employ 25,114 hands as mariners. 



62 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

The report alludes to the commerce of the lakes and 
Western rivers as a nursery of seamen. This aspect of 
that commerce is so full of interest, particularly now dur- 
ing the present unsettled condition of Europeon politics, 
that we cannot forbear making the following extract 
from it : 

^'But the lake commerce, on matters of defence, admits 
of a more general aspect. I allude now to its being so 
great a nursery of seamen ; under which consideration 
sound reasoning also requires us to place the trade of the 
Western rivers. Men accustomed to the navigation of 
these rivers, or to that of the lakes, acquire a fondness for 
the sea-faring life, and readily become expert seamen. — 
These two sources now em^ploy annually about 32,086 
hands as mariners of all kinds. A state of war with a 
commercial power would of necessity throw many of them 
out of their accustomed employments, and their habits 
would naturally induce them to seek the kindred employ- 
ment of the ocean. If it be supposed that this necessity 
should not extend over more than one-third of their num- 
ber, it would now furnish upwards of ten thousand young, 
active, able-bodied men, accustomed to the water, for a 
military marine, either for service on the lakes or on the 
broad Atlantic. We think it may therefore be said, with- 
out fear of error, that the lake and the Western river com- 
merce is at this moment the greatest nursery of seamen 
possessed by any nation ; a nursery as yet but partially 
developed, occupying a most luxuriant soil, and daily in- 
creasing beyond ail known precedents. 

^'Supposing this nursery to increase in a no greater ra- 
tio than our general population, it will in ten years from 
1846, produce 43,027. But reasonable calculations on the 
sound data of experience, would bring that number in 
that time to about 50,000 ; that is, the inland nursery, the 
nursery of the Western rivers and the lakes, not including 
that of the sea-coast and of sea-service." 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 63 

At the conclusion of the remarks upon lake and Wes- 
tern river commerce, we find the following summary of 
facts : The nett moneyed value of the commerce of the 
Western rivers and the lakes amounted in 1846 to $246,- 
774,635. The population depending upon the lakes and 
Western rivers, as means of communicating with a mar- 
ket, for the same year, (1846,) was 9,504.952. The num- 
ber of hands employed as mariners in this commerce, for 
the same year, is 32,086. And (most singular, after all 
that has been said on this subject) it appears from a pos- 
itive examination of the appropriation laws, that the sums 
appropriated for lake harbors and for the Western rivers, 
the Mississippi and its tributaries, direct and indirect, 
from the year 1806, when these appropriations commenc- 
ed, up to and including the last appropriations of 1845, 
do not amount to more than $5,549,300. 

The next subject of the report relates to the facilities 
of communication by railroads and canals, by the way of 
the lakes, with the Mississippi and the Atlantic. These 
means of communication are divided into two classes : — 
''First, those which connect the lakes with the valley ot 
the Mississippi ; second, those which connect the lakes 
wnth the Atlantic." The canals and railroads under each 
class are named ; their points of departure and termination 
stated; and in reference to canals, length, breadth, and 
depth of water-way is given, and also dimensions and 
number of locks. The report also treats of the adaptation 
of the commercial means of the lakes to military opera- 
tions and as means of military defence, showing very sat- 
isfactorily how powerful an auxiliary fleet can b^ made in 
the shortest time from the steamboat flotilla of the lakes. 
The author of the report is decidedly of opinion that, in 
reference to the lakes, above the Falls of Niagara, the 
preponderance of commercial tonnage is so decidedly in 
our favor that, reasoning from the advantages flowing 
from this preponderance, he concludes that the command 



64 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

of these lakes is unequivocally in us, and not easy to be 
wrested from us. But, in reference to the lakes below the 
falls, particularly Lake Ontario, the case is different. On 
this lake the preponderance of commercial tonnage is vast- 
ly in favor of the British, and candid reasoning from sim- 
ilar facts obliges the report to give the command of this 
lake to the British. 

The British superiority on this lake is accounted for 
by the very great attention which has been bestowed up- 
on its harbors on the Canada side, and the comparative 
neglect on ours. These views and deductions open an 
interesting field of argument in favor of lake harbors as 
means of defence. We do not find this field to have been 
entered upon in the report, beyond views consequent up- 
on the commercial tonnage ; the omission being probably 
due to the desire of the author of the report to adhere rig- 
idly to the queries included in the resolution of the Sen- 
ate. They are not, however, entirely omitted, as we find 
in the report a short paragraph, expressing in a few words 
the military advantages resulting from these harbors. It 
is under the head ^'of the British commercial means of the 
lakes" as adaptable for military purposes : 

'^Those meanS; without doubt, eminently consist of the 
facilities which the general population of the country, and 
population concentrated in towns, can furnish. Wherever 
a harbor is made, population concentrates ; the adjacent 
country becomes thickly inhabited and better cultivated * 
manufactures spring up ; artisans of all kinds assemble ; 
Avorkshops are established ; provisions are collected in 
storehouses; and all those facilities to military operations 
belonging to population, to supplies of all kinds, and to 
mechanical means, are at commai::d. What these are on 
the Canr.da side of the lakes is not in my powder to say» 
as I have no reliable data on these subjects. I have, 
therefore, of necessity to confine myself to the rigid com- 
mercial means, and to the facilities of transferring those 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 65 

means from lake to lake and from lake to river." There 
is a highly interesting chapter upon the ^'extent of lake 
coast and nf the same in different States" — the harbors in 
this extent, and their condition before and since improve- 
ments have been made. Upon this subject the report states: 
^^The great lakes of our country, which may justly be 
considered inland seas, and to which the inland commerce 
described in this report relates, are the following : Cham- 
plain, Ontario, Erie, St. Clair, Huron, Michigan, and Su- 
perior. These lakes are of great depth, as well as of great 
extent. The entire line of lake coast embraces about 
5,000 miles, 2,000 miles of which constitute the coast of 
a foreign Power : 



Lake Champlain is 




105 miles long. 


Its greatest width 




12 miles. 


Its average width 




8 miles. 


Lake Ontario is 




180 miles long. 


Its greatest width 




52 miles. 


Its average width 




40 miles. 


Lake Erie is 




240 miles long. 


Its greatest width 




57 miles. 


Its average width 




38 miles. 


Lake St. Clair is 




18 miles long. 


Its greatest width 




25 miles. 


Its average width 




12 miles. 


Lake Huron is 




270 miles long. 


Its greatest width ( 


not including 


^ 


the extensive bay 


of Georgian, 




itself 120 miles lor 


ig, and avera- 




ging 45 wide) is 




150 miles. 


Its average width 




70 miles. 


Lake Michigan is 




340 miles long. 


Its greatest width 




83 miles. 


Its average width 




58 miles. 


Lake Superior is 




420 miles long. 


Its greatest width 




135 miles. 


Its average width 


(^) 


100 miles," 



66 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM- 

The report then treats of the extent of lake coast in 
each State, and of the harbors in that extent, describing 
the latter briefly, and giving the amounts which have been 
expended in the improvement of each. 

In no instance have efforts to improve the lake harbors 
failed, but in every case success has attended them, and 
in proportion to the extent of the works. The money has 
therefore been usefully expended. 

The foregoing condensed review of the commerce of 
the lakes, their extent and increasing population of the 
country adjacent to, and connected with them, will be 
valuable for reference, to the industrious working class, 
who do not rest long enough from labor for extensive read- 
ing and documental research. It may be regarded as a 
political and physical geography. 

No arguments are necessary to prove that the country 
cannot .prosper without roads, canals and other means on 
land and water for travelling and transportation hiiher and 
thither. If the people cannot choose from their own body, 
delegates to Congress and the State Legislatures, who 
will faithfully represent them upon the subject of Internal 
Improvements, they cannot select representatives who can 
be trusted upon any other subject. The people can only 
act efficiently through their representatives and organized 
laws. 

If the debt contracted by Maryland could be blotted 
out, and all the Internal Improvements for which it was 
contracted, eraced from her soil, leaving it just as it was 
before any of those works were commenced ; "Western 
Maryland would in effect^ and in a comparative point of 
view, be removed from one hundred to three hundred miles 
further from market than it now is. Heretofore, with the 
exception of a few weeks in the course of a year, during 
which, some produce was floated down the Potomac at 
great risk, and hazard of life ; all the produce from the 
upper counties w^as sent to market in wagons. From four 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 67 

to twelve days were required for teams from Frederick, 
Washington, and Allegany counties to complete a trip 
to and from Baltimore. Now produce in the upper county 
can be transported by the rail road from Cumberland to 
Baltimore in one day, and a return made the next, at less 
than half the price heretofore paid for wagon carriage ; 
and transportation by the canal, is cheaper than by the 
rail road. One canal boat drawn by two or three horses 
or mules, will carry as much produce as forty wagons and 
teams on a pike, and with equal or greater speed. Were 
the railroads in Maryland stricken off, the important links 
of communication with Baltimore would be broken off, 
and the trade and commerce of that growing and well lo- 
cated city, which now extends into Virginia, Pennsylva- 
nia, and other States, would be almost destroyed, and Ma- 
ryland would be in effect^ an isolated State. 

If we were deprived of our public works, rail roads anci 
canals, the mass of the people would, heart and hand, re- 
commence their construction. The tax payers, receive 
more than an equivalent in the general benefits which flow^ 
from them, and the increasing prosperity of the State and 
its citizens which are visable to all enquiring and unpre- 
judiced minds and seeing eyes. There are, indeed, some 
individual exceptions, and there ever will be exceptions 
to all rules and measures of a general character. But the 
exceptions are comparatively, few. There may have been, 
and doubtless was, bad management and an extravagant 
and wasteful expenditure of money in the construction 
of our public works ; which, however, does not prove that 
they were unnecessary, and that the cost is greater than 
the benefits which will be derived by this and succeeding 
generations ; individuals and nations do more for posterity 
than for themselves. The patriots of the Revolution were 
less benefitted by their noble deeds of valor in establish- 
ing our Independence than those who have already suc- 
ceeded them. 

The Democratic National convention which nominated 



68 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Gen. Cass for the Presidency, took this subject under con- 
sideration, and passed a resolution in the following words: 

^'Resolvedj That the Constitution does not confer upon 
the General Government the power to commence and 
carry on a general system of Internal Improvements.'^ 

In a political point of view the resolution may be con- 
sidered ambiguous, definite or indefinite ; as a destinc- 
tion might be drawn between w^orks of a "general" and 
those of a national character. Under the resolution a pres- 
ident might veto a bill on the ground of its being "gen- 
eral" and unlimited in its character ; or he could approve 
it on the ground of its being of a national character. The 
convention could have plainly admitted or denied the power 
of Congress to make Internal Improvements, and express- 
ed nothing indefinite on the important subject. With few 
exceptions, the other resolutions passed by the Conven- 
tion, are ambiguous or expressed in generalities and ad- 
mit of different constructions ; and such is often the case 
with the resolutions and proceedings of party politicians 
and Conventions. Fairness and candor are as becoming 
in politics as in business transactions. 

The Federal and State governments may go in advance 
of their convenient means in the improvement of the 
country, and in every thing under their control ; but those 
improvements, yet in their infancy, will progress. The 
period is not remote when rail roads will extend from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific and from the St. Lawrence to the 
Gulf of Mexico. Canals will extend in length and in- 
crease in numbers ; and the different sections and inter- 
ests unite in advancing the prosperity of each other ; un- 
less checked by war or an uncompromising party spirit. 
The writer indulges a hope that politicians and Statesmen, 
will ultimately study and discuss measures, with the single 
object of arriving at their effects, without regard to party. 
Such ought to be the governing principle. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 69 

CHAPTER III. 

On Protective Duties and National Economy* 

It is positively asserted by many persons, and doubt- 
less believed by some honest and worthy citizens, that 
the Tariff or Duties on all imported articles without a sin- 
gle exception adds just that much to the price, and is 
wholly paid by the consumers, and that the producers, 
whether agricultorers or manufacturers are not affected by 
it. And secondly that the price of all domestic articles oi 
the same kind and quality of the imported articles, are ad- 
vanced in price to the amount of the duty on the imported 
articles, without a single exception. 

The foregoing paragraph embodies the sentiments of a 
large portion of politicians and serves as a text for argu- 
ments against the protective system, and is often used with 
powerful effect. An orator may argue just as weJI from 
Jhlse premises as from true ones ; — he may reason well 
from false premises. Let a man assume as ^Jact that his 
neighbor is a knave who labors to cheat all he can, and 
arguments, powerful and conclusive, can be advanced to 
prove that a knave is a bad moral character, and should 
be treated accordingly. As it is impossible that any ra- 
tional man desires to be deceived upon any subject what- 
ever, and as it would be important to establish the truth 
or falacy of the premises that the consumers, invariably, 
pay all the duties and the producers none, the writer un- 
dertakes to prove the falacy of the premises; not by the 
force of argument and unqualified declarations, but by the 
application of well established and acknowledged facts> 
Now for the proof. 

The late Tariff of 1846, imposes a duty of twenty per 
cent, upon imported ''wheat and wheat flour," the same 
upon various other articles including grain and breadstuffs. 
Has that duty advanced the price of wheat and other grain 



70 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM- 

in the slightest degree ? every sensible man will answer 
no. But if the premises laid down in the first paragraph 
in this chapter, that the consumers pays all the duty and 
the producers none, be true ; then it follows conclusively 
that the farmers and all the inhabitants of the U. States 
pay a duty of twenty percent, upon all the bread they eat. 
But it may be said that no wheat is imported. Well, let 
us suppose that wheat was imported from Canada or any 
other country in large or small quantities ; its natural ten- 
dency would be to decrease the price of domestic wheat, 
but could not possibly advance it, and the price of the im- 
ported article would be depressed equally with the do- 
mestic. Suppose a cargo of foreign wheat arrived at one 
of our ports, it would have to pay a duty of twenty per 
cent., and yet it would not, nor could not be sold for a 
shade more than domestic wheat of equal quality, conse- 
quently all the duty would be paid by the producer and 
no part by the consumer. If an American merchant pur- 
chased a cargo of wheat at Liverpool or any foreign port 
and shipped it to the United States, he would place him- 
self in the situation of the producer, and if he did not 
make the purchase with reference to the duty, he, having 
taken the place of the producer, would be the loser to the 
amount of the duty : but merchants understand their in- 
terest. 

What is said of wheat would apply to all imported arti- 
cles without exception, provided, they w^ere produced here 
to the sam.e extent as wheat and other grain. The oft 
repeated assertion that the duty on all importations adds 
just that much to the price, and advances to the same ex- 
tent the cost of domestic articles of equal quality, is too 
absurd to be credited by any intelligent man who will in- 
vestigate the subject. It has been said, however, that 
the world is governed by humbugs, and that error is more 
prevalent than truth. 

Tea and coffee are admitted free of duty. They are in 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 71 

very general use, especially in our cities and towns, where 
they are cheaper than milk or any agreeable substitute. — 
And, as they are not of the growth and produce of the 
United States, a duty upon them would advance the price, 
as is uniformly conceeded by all the advocates of protec- 
tive and discriminating duties. If Tea and Coffee were 
produced in the United States in as great a superabun- 
dance as wheat and other grain (in relative proportion to 
the quantity used of each) a daty of twenty per cent., or 
more, could not possibly advance the price upon us the 
consumers ; but would be felt by the foreign producers. 

The entire people of the United States constitute a na- 
tional family, and economy is as applicable and necessary 
in its government as in the family of an individual. 

The duty on many imported articles, perhaps on a ma- 
jority, is paid in part by the consumers : but reason, ex- 
perience and facts contradict the doctrine that the duty on 
all imported goods and things are paid by the consumers, 
and that the producers are not in any way affected by 
tariffs. If a high tariff was laid upon imported goods 
which are in very general use, and of a kind and quality 
grown or manufactured in our own country to a compar- 
atively small amount, the price would certainly advance; 
and the rise, (which could not exceed the duty) would fall 
upon the consumers, and the domestic articles, if equal 
in quality, would be equally enhanced in value. But if 
articles of the same kind and equal in quality to the im- 
ported goods could be conveniently produced in our own 
country, in superabundance, the number who would en- 
gage in fabricating them would soon counteract the ad- 
vance and reduce the price lower than it was before the 
duty was laid. Besides the more we produce or manu- 
facture, the less will we be dependent upon foreign nations, 
and the greater will be our comfort and independence. 
If it be said that nations wont trade wdth us if we do not 
agree to their terms, it may with equal truth be said, that 



72 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 

interest, not friendship, regulates trade, and that neither 
a nation or an individual will buy, or take any article in 
exchange or barter, except with a view of a benefit by the 
transaction. 

Political economy which should be studied by states* 
men, is not confined to our internal relations and organ- 
ized laws ; it extends to our commerce with other nations, 
and it should be regulated, as far as practicable, with spe- 
cial regard to the interest of our own people, which can 
be done without injiistice to others. We can have no 
friendly intercourse with any nation unless it is founded 
in reciprocal interest. It is not said that the only relative 
position in which nations can stand to each other, is either 
a friendly intercourse founded upon reciprocal interest, or 
a state of war, or enmity. Courtesy does not require one 
nation to deal with another against its own interest ; and 
the most liberal and enlightened nations are more or less 
selfish, which is not (upon abstract principles) injustice, 
but a national virtue. 

In drafting a tariff bill a special regard should be had 
to the working and producing classes, including all who 
live by manual labor, from the mechanic of the highest 
order, to the plough-man and the wood-chopper. They 
constitute in this and every civilized nation, the Samsons 
of society and government, the salt of the earth, and if 
they thrive, merchants and professional men will take care 
of themselves. The latter classes from their intelligence and 
education, ever have, and ever will, possess advantages 
over the former classes, which cannot be fully counteracted. 
Nothing disrespectful is intended towards merchants and 
professional characters, they are in this and every other 
country highly respectable and useful citizens, possessing 
advantages which naturally flow from superior intelligence 
and education. 

If all the nations of the earth would abolish, forever, 
all duties upon import^itions, and open their ports to each 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 73 

other, indiscriminately, it would, perhaps, increase the in- 
tercourse between nations trading with each other ; but 
the writer is not aware that it would be productive of gen- 
eral good, politically or morally. But it would not be 
very interesting to the reader to suppose a case, which no 
reflecting man believes will ever take place, and then spec- 
date or theorise upon it. It will be more interesting to 
meet the question as it really is, than to suppose a case 
which does not nor never can exist, unless human nature 
should be radically changed. Modern writers upon na- 
tional policy, denounce measures of retaliation as unsound 
in morals, and productive of more evil than good. The 
objection to retaliating measures must be taken in a qual- 
ified sense ; otherwise, it is wTong to punish a convicted 
thief. If a thief steals money or property, he is bound by 
law, gospel and justice to make restitution ; and the mod- 
ern law, w^hich subjects him to corporeal punishment, is 
in accordance with the law^s of Moses, handed down by 
Deity. If it be decided that all measures of retaliation 
are WTong, it follows, upon the same principles, that all 
wrongs, no matter how unprovoked or grievious, ought 
to pass unredressed. Those, w^hose arguments are wholly 
confined to abstractions, labor to fetter the human mind ; 
because all, or most, abstract questions, or facts, require 
elucidation If it should be said that John is 25, and Lucy 
18 years old, it is not said by this abstract statement 
whether they are married or single ; virtuous or vicious ; 
and if it is said that the United States and England im- 
pose a tarifFupon importations the latter statement, abstract- 
edly, is not more important than the first. But, if it be 
said, that two or more wrongs cannot make a right, tliis 
is admitted ; but the writer has yet to learn that it is WTong 
to punish a thief, or to protect industry, by insuring to the 
laborer a just compensation for his labor. The laborer 
has a just right to a compensation equivalent to his com- 
fortable support ; and no man is so industrious as to work 



74 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

for nothing rather than to be idle. A government which 
does not protect, or try to protect, its laboring class, may 
be compared to a man who does not provide for his family, 
or to parents who bring up their children in idleness; be- 
cause, it is a matter of but little consequence as to the 
effect J whether the body of the people are naturally mdo- 
lent, or whether they cannot obtain labor. In the United 
States, agriculture, the various branches of mechanism, 
and commerce, are so connected with and dependent up- 
on, each other, that it is impossible to prostrate any one, 
ivithout seriously injuring the others; and an eqailibrium 
can never be kept up by abstractions, without regard to 
proportions and attendant circumstances. In the forego- 
ing it is not written distinctively of that class generally 
termed laboring men: neither was it necessary to do so; 
because, all labor is more or less mechanical. The man 
who labors with a pen, or he who labors with an axe, hoe, 
spade or any other implement, acts more or less mechani- 
cally ; and, consequently, all labor is more or less connect- 
ed with mechanism. Mechanism cannot be separated from 
labor and treated as a distinct branch or avocation ; it 
may, in the common acceptation of the term, be consider- 
ed the highest branch of labor, and in some countries, or 
situations, the most profitable; but it would be difficult, 
if not impossible, to prove it to be the most useful. 

The opponents of a protective tariff charge its advocates 
with being opposed to free trade. There would be as 
much justice in charging all those who advocate protec- 
tion against the vicious and lawless, with being opposed 
to liberty. When the patriots of the Revolution resolved 
upon Liberty, they raised Ihe arm of protection. There 
cannot exist either liberty or free trade, in the wholesome 
sense of the terms, and the sense in which both terms are 
understood by the friends and opponents of the policy, 
without protection. The opponents of a protective tariff 
further say, that it increases the prices upon the consum- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 75 

ers, without affecting the prices obtained by the growers 
or manufactarers. If this be correct, how ungenerous and 
unjust it is for us to complain of the high tariff inoposed 
upon our importations of flour to England, and the high 
tariff on our importations of tobacco to France ! If the 
consumers of the flour sent to England, and the consum- 
ers of the tobacco sent to France, pay all and we pay none 
of the duty, it matters not to us whether our flour and to- 
bacco are admitted free of duty, or whether a.tariff of ten 
dollars is laid upon a barrel of flour and twenty-five cents 
upon a pound of tobacco. 

Under a well regulated tariff, laid with a view exclu- 
sively to protection, sound policy and the interest of eve- 
ry section of our wide-spread country might require a duty 
so heavy on some articles as to exclude them, and to ad- 
mit some others free of duty. A duty laid, with a view 
of protection, ought to be discriminating; a dollar's worth 
of broad-cloth ought to pay more than a dollar's w^orth of 
tea ; because, the former can be manufactured in abund- 
ance in this country, whereas the latter cannot be raised 
at all, or never has been ; and secondly, broad-cloth is 
principally worn by the rich, and the manufacturing of it 
in this country would give employment to our own man- 
ufacturers and laboring men ; and if the tariff increased 
the value of it, as is contended by the opponents of the 
measure, it would be paid by the rich. Let a case be 
supposed. 

The United States and Great Britain enter into an en- 
gagement, by w^hich the former agrees to deliver the lat- 
ter a hundred thousand barrels of flour at Liverpool, and 
the latter agrees to deliver the former a like number of 
barrels of equal quality at Boston. Suppose that each 
nation exacted of the other a tariff of three dollars per bar- 
rel ; the effect upon the two nations would be the same as 
if each nation admitted the imported flour free of duty. — 
But suppose we paid a tariff of $3 per barrel on our ex 



76 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

portation, and only receive a tariff of $1 per barrel on the 
importation at Boston, we would lose two hundred thou- 
sand dollars by the difference in the tariff laws of the two 
nations. But it may be said that the supposed case, as 
relates to the tariff, never did and never will occur — that 
its injustice is too glaring to be entertained or submitted to. 
To this point let the reader pay particular attention. The 
writer has only supposed a case, or, more properly, stated 
the inequality of the tariff laws of the United States, 
Great Britain, France, and other European nations, as 
they now exist, and have existed for a number of years, 
and the withering effects are felt throughout our country. 
The inequality may not generally be considered so great 
as in the case of the flour ; but startling as it may seem, 
the inequality and unequal bearing on the United States 
are even greater than above supposed. The opponents 
of a protecting tariff admit that our tariff is greatly under 
the tariff duties of the nations with whom we trade; but 
say they, foreign nations ought to bring down their tariff 
to a level with ours. 

Now, we do not possess the right nor power to compel 
foreign nations to reduce their tariff laws to an equilibri- 
um with ours ; but we possess the power and the right to 
raise ours to equal theirs, and sound policy requires it. — 
The opponents of a protective tariff sometimes refer to 
Mr. Jefferson, which is calling upon a witness to testify 
against them. As they have no right to impeach their 
own witness, Mr. Jefferson shall be examined. In his 
Notes on Virginia, page 171, Boston edition, for 1832, 
he says — ''The political economists of Europe have estab- 
lished it as a principle that every state should endeavor to 
manufacture for itself; and this principle, like many oth- 
ers, we transfer to America, w^ithout calculating the dif- 
ference of circumstances which should often produce a dif- 
ference of result. In Europe the lands are either cultiva- 
ted, or locked up against the cultivator. Manufacture 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 77 

must therefore be resorted to of necessity, not of choice, 
to support the surplus of their people. But we have an 
immensity of land courting the industry of the husband- 
man. Is it best, then, that all our citizens should be em- 
ployed in its improvement, or that one half should be call- 
ed off from that to exercise manufactures and handicraft 
arts for the other? Those who labor in the earth are the 
chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, 
whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposite for sub- 
stantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he 
keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape 
from the face of the earth. Corruption of morals in the 
mass of cultivators is a phenomenon of which no age or 
nation has furnished an example. It is a mark set on 
those, who not looking up to heaven, to their own soil 
and industry, as does the husbandman, for their subsist- 
ance, depend for it on casualities and caprice of custom- 
ers. Dependence begets subservience and venality, suf- 
focates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the 
designs of ambition. This, the natural progress and 
consequence of the arts, has sometimes, perhaps, been re- 
tarded by accidental circumstances ; but, generally speak- 
ing, the proportion which the aggregate of the other classes 
of citizens bears in any state to that of its husbandmen, is 
the portion of its unsound to its healthy parts, and is 
a good enough barometer whereby to measure its degree 
of corruption. While w^e have land to labor, then, let 
us never wish to see -our citizens occupied at a work- 
bench, or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons, smiths, 
are wanting in husbandry ; but, for the general operations 
of manufactures, let our work-shops remain in Europe. — 
It is better to carry provisions and materials to workmen 
there, than bring them to the provisions and materials, 
and with them their manners and principles. The loss 
by the transportation of commodities across the Atlantic 
w411 be made up in happiness and permanence of govern- 



78 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ment. The mobs of great cities add just so much to the 
support of government, as sores do to the strength of the 
human body. It is the manners and spirit of a people 
which preserve a republic in vigour. Degeneracy in 
these is a canker which soon eats to the heart." 

If Mr. Jefferson had never afterwards written a word 
upon the subject of manufactures, a calculating statesman, 
looking to the circumstances which surrounded him, or 
which might present themselves, would not venture the 
declaration that the sentiments advanced by Mr. Jefferson 
would be applicable under any circumstances and through 
all time. Virtue, political and moral honesty are funda- 
mental principles, which are substantially embraced in the 
Ten Commandments and should never be departed from ; 
but circumstances havf frequently occurred connected 
with our national and state policy, which made it necessary 
and proper to change measures. The mere abandonment 
of one measure, and the adoption of another, or the repeal- 
ing of a law, and the enacting of another, does not prove 
that the measure abandoned and the law repealed never 
were wholesome and proper. There was a time when 
there was no necessity for a steamboat on the Ohio, or a 
Court House on the territory which now forms Kentucky; 
there was a time when strict laws were required for the 
protection of deer; but when the country was brought into 
cultivation, those laws became unnecessary, and their en- 
forcement in many places would be oppressive and tyranni- 
cal. Happily for us, the days of Mr. Jefferson, the great 
apostle of democracy, the enlightened statesman and pure 
patriot, were extended long enough to prove that the sen- 
timents he advanced, in the quotation considered, ought 
not to be carried out under any circumstances whatever. 
The sentiments he advanced were applicable to our situa- 
tion at the period he advanced them ; but v/ere not intend- 
ed by him as standard sentiments and principles which 
would be applicable through all ages and under any cir- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 79 

cumstances. Nor did he expect to be so understood ; in 
support of which, we make the following quotation from 
his letter to Benjamin Austin, dated, Monticello, January 
9, 1816, and published in the fourth volume of his Me- 
moirs, page 280. 

''You tell me I am quoted by those who wish to con- 
tinue our dependence on England for manufacturers. — 
There was a time when I might have been quoted with 
more candor. But within the thirty years w^hich have 
since elapsed, how are circumstances changed! We were 
then in peace, our independent place among nations w^as 
acknowledged. A commerce which offered the raw ma- 
terial in exchange for the same material after receiving 
the last touch of industry, was worthy of w^elcome to all 
nations. It was expected, that those especially to whom 
manufacturing industry was important, would cherish the 
friendship of such customers by every favor, and particu- 
larly cultivate their peace by every act of justice and friend- 
ship. Under this prospect, the question seemed legitimate, 
whether, w^ith such an immensity of unimproved land, 
courting the hand of husbandry, the industry of agricul- 
ture, or that of manufacture, w^ould add most to the na- 
tional w^ealth. And the doubt on the utility of the Amer- 
ican manufactures was entertained on this consideration, 
chiefly, that to the labor of the husbandman a vast addi- 
tion is made by the spontaneous energies of the earth on 
which it is employed. For one grain of wheat committed 
to the earth, she renders twenty, thirty and even fifty fold; 
whereas, to the labor of manufacture, nothing is added. 
Pounds of flax, in his hands, on the contrary, yield but 
pennyweis^hts of lace. This exchange, too, laborious as 
it might seem, w^hat a field did it promise for the occupa- 
tion of the ocean; what a nursery for that class of citizens 
who were to exercise and maintain our equal rights on 
that element! This was the state of things in 1785, when 
the notes of Virginia were first published ; when the ocean 



80 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

being open to all nations, ai?d their common right in it 
acknowledged and exercised under regulations sanctioned 
by the assent and usage of all, it was thought that the 
doubt might claim some consideration. 

''But who, in 1785, could foresee the rapid depravity 
which was to render the close of that century a disgrace 
to the history of man? Who could have imagined that 
the two most distinguished in the rank of nations, for sci- 
ence and civilization, would have suddenly descended 
from that honorable eminence, and setting at defiance all 
those moral laws established by the Author of nature be- 
tween nation and nation, as between man and man, would 
cover earth and sea with robberies and piracies, merely 
because strong enough to do it with temporal impunity, 
and that under this disbandment of nations from social 
order, we should have been despoiled of a thousand ships, 
and have thousands of citizens reduced to Algerme slave- 
ry? Yet all this has taken place. The British interdict- 
ed to our vessels all harbours of the globe, without hav- 
ing first proceeded to some one of hers, there paid a trib- 
ute proportioned to the cargo, and obtained her license to 
proceed to the port of destination. The French declared 
them to be lawful prizes if they had been touched at the 
port, or been visited by a ship of the enemy-nation. — 
Thus were we completely excluded from the ocean.—- 
Compare this state of things wdth that of '85, and say 
whether an opinion founded in the circumstances of that 
day, can be fairly applied to those of the present. We 
have experienced, what we did not then believe, that 
there exists both profligacv and power enough to exclude 
us from the field of interchange with other nations. — 
That to be independent for the comforts of life, we must 
fabricate them ourselves. We must nov/ place the manu- 
facturer by the side of the agriculturalist. The former 
question is suppressed, or rather assumes a new form. — 
The grand inquiry now is shall we make our own comforts, 



POLttlGAL EQUILIBRIUM* 81 

withodt them at the will of a foreign nation. He, there- 
fore, who is now against domestic manufacture, must be 
for reducing us either to dependence on that foreign 
nation or to be clothed in skins and live like ivild beasts 
in dens and caverns. I am not one of these. Experi^ 
ence has taught me that manufactures are now as necessa- 
ry to our independence as to our comfort; and if those who 
quote me as of a different opinion, will keep pace with 
me in purchasing nothing foreign, where an equivalent of 
domestic fabric can be obtained, without regard to differ- 
ence of price, it will not be our fault if we do not soon 
have a supply at home equal to our demand, and wrest 
that weapon of distress from the hand which has so long 
wantonly wielded it. If it shall be proposed to go be* 
yond our own supply, the question of '85 will then recur. 
Will our surplus labor be then more beneficially employed 
in the culture of the earth, or in the fabrications of art?— - 
We have time yet for consideration, before that question 
will press upon us ; and the axiom to be applied will de- 
pend on the circumstances which shall then exist. For 
in so complicated a science as political economy, no one 
axiom can be laid down as wise and expedient for all cir- 
cumstanceSe Inattention to this is what has called for 
this explanation, which reflection would have rendered 
unnecessary with the candid, while nothing will do it with 
those who use the former opinion only as a stalking horse 
to cover their disloyal propensities to keep us in eternal 
vassalage to a foreign and unfriendly people.'^ 

In the quotation from his Notes on Virginia and his 
letter to Mr. Austin, Mr. Jefferson displayed a giant mind, 
and, taking into consideration surrounding circumstances, 
advocated measures suited to them — the true course of a 
great statesman and honest politician, recommending 
measures called for by the policy of foreign nations. — • 
When he wrote his notes on Virginia, such mechanical 
branches, only, as were closely connected with husbandry 

F 



82 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 

'Were necessary. But time and the policy of foreign na- 
tions made it necessary and proper to add manufactures 
to agriculture ; and experience proved that each would 
strengthen and invigorate the other. In 1785, there was 
no more necessity for manufactures and the mechanic arts, 
beyond those stated by Mr. Jefferson, than there was for 
steamboats on the Ohio. In 1816 experience proved — 
*nhat to be independent for the comforts of life, we must 
fabricate them ourselves — we must now place the manu- 
facturer by the side of the agriculturist. There is one 
sentence in Mr. Jefferson's letter which ought to be in- 
scribed in large characters in every legislative hall, on the 
plough beam, in the school room, and in the dwelling of 
every citizen in the Union; it is in these words: — For in 

so COMPLICATED A SCIENCE AS POLITICAL ECONOMY, NO 
ONE AXIOM CAN BE LAID DOWN AS W^ISE AND EXPEDI- 
ENT FOE. ALL TIMES AND CIRCUMSTANCES." The forC- 

going text is in accordance with the great mind from 
which it emanated. Mr. Jefferson w^as a democrat in 
principle and in recommending and adopting measures 
applicable to his democratic principles, he took a states- 
man-like view of surrounding circumstances. His politi- 
cal principles were as pure and invigorating as the atmos- 
phere where he penned his letter to Mr. Austin, and his 
expansive mind grasped, at a smgle glance, the physical 
and moral strength of the Union and the policy of foreign 
nations with whom we had intei-course. 

President Jackson, in his second annual message to 
Congres, uses this language: — 

"The object of the tariff is objected to by some as un- 
constitutional; and is considered by almost all as defective 
in many of its parts. 

''The power to impose duties on imports originally be- 
longed to the several States. The right to adjust those 
duties with a view to the encoura2:ement of domestic 
branches of industry is so completely incidental to the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 83 

power that it is difficult to suppose the one without the 
other. The States have delegated their whole authority 
over imports to the general government w^ithout limitation 
or restriction, saving the very inconsiderable reservation 
relating to their inspection law^s. This authority having 
thus entirely passed from the States, the right to exercise 
it for the purpose of protection does not exist in them 
and consequently, if it be not possessed by the general 
government, it must be extinct. Our political system 
w^ould thus present the anomaly of a people stripped of 
the right to foster their own industry^ and to counteract 
the most selfish and destructive policy ivhich might be 
adopted by foreign nations. This surely cannot be the 
case ; this indispensable power, thus surrendered by th^ 
States, must be within the scope of the authority on the 
subject expressly delegated to Congress. 

"In this conclusion, I am confirmed as well by the opin- 
ions of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and 
Monroe, who have each repeatedly recommended the ex- 
ercise of this right under the constitution, as by the uni- 
form practice of Congress, and the continued acquiescence 
of the general understanding of the people." 

A few words are emphasised : in every other respect 
the quotation is literal and contains three entire paragraphs. 
The number who believe that a tariff laid with a view^ to 
protection against the oppressive policy of foreign nations, 
or for the protection of our working classes, would be un- 
constitutional, must be comparatively small. It is question- 
able whether any intelligent man believes that a protective 
tariff is unconstitutional under any circumstances what- 
ever. The reader will bear in mind the difference between 
protection and oppression. The advocates of a protective 
tariff are against oppressing any portion of the people. — 
Under the compromise act, the tariff had come down to 
its lowest point of twenty per cent., and if reducing it to 
ten per cent, or to one per cent., would promote the gen- 



84 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

eral good and public welfare, more than a higher tariff, the 
advocates of protection would go for one per cent, in pref- 
erence to a higher rate. Protection and prosperity, in a 
national and individual point of view, are the objects of 
the friends of a protective tariff; they are alike opposed 
to duty on importations being too high or too low. That 
the tariff of 1830 may have been imperfect in some of its 
details, is probable. All human m.easares and institutions 
necessarily spring from, and are governed by, human minds 
and hands, and must be more or less imperfect ; and as 
time and circumstances develope imperfections they ought 
to be corrected. At that period we had a protective tariff, 
and as sound, uniform, and convenient a currency for all 
classes of citizens, as the world ever produced, and the 
country was in a high state of prosperity. In that message 
the President spoke of the revenue in the following lan- 
guage:— ^^ 

^'According to the estimates at the Treasury Depart- 
ment, the receipts in the treasury, during the present year, 
will amount to twenty-four millions, one hundred and 
sixty-one thousand and eighteen dollars, which will ex- 
ceed, by about three hundred thousand dollars, the esti- 
mate presented m the annual report of the secretary of the 
Treasury. The total expenditure during the year, exclu- 
sive of the public debt, is estimated at thirteen millions, 
seven hundred and forty-two thousand, three hundred and 
eleven dollars ; and the payment on account of public debt, 
for the same period, will have been eleven millions, three 
hundred and fifty-four thousand, six hundred and thirty 
dollars ; leaving a balance in the Treasury, on the 1st of 
January, 1831, of four millions, eight hundred and nine- 
teen thousand, seven hundred and eighty-one dollars." 

In about four years afterwards, the whole national debt 
was paid off; and before the close of his administration, 
a surplus revenue of about forty millions had accumulated, 
which Congress directed to be distributed among the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 85 

states, in proportion to their population. It must be borne 
in mind that President Jackson was aided throughout his 
administration by a protective tariff. The compromise act 
of 1833 but slightly affected the revenue until after the 
public debt was paid off. In his first annual message, ot 
December 1829, he stated that the public debt on the 1st 
of January, following, would be reduced to forty-eight 
millions of dollars ; and in his fifth annual message, of 
December 1833, he spoke in strong and vivid language 
of the prosperous condition of the Treasury, and that the 
national debt, on the 1st of the ensuing m.onth, would be 
reduced to four millions of dollars, and that the whole debt 
would be liquidated during the year 1834. Up to the close 
of 1833, the compromise act did not affect the revenue, 
and but slightly reached it in 1834, when the remnant of 
the debt was reduced to five millions. 

When President Jackson wrote his second annual mes- 
sage, he was an advocate for a protective tariff. His lan- 
guage is unequivocal and cannot be misunderstood by any 
intelligent man ; neither will any candid man attempt to 
misrepresent its plain meaning and intent. He not only 
used language the meaning and intent of which was pro- 
tection to domestic industry ; but, as determmed not to 
be misunderstood by any class of readers, he literally used 
the word '^protectioUj^^ and applied it to the support and 
^'encouragement" of domestic branches of industry. He 
concluded by a reference to Presidents Washington, Jef- 
ferson, Madison, and Monroe, as having ''repeatedly rec- 
ommended the exercise of this right under the constitu- 
tion, as by the uniform practice of Congress, the contin- 
tinued acquiescence of the states, and the general under- 
standing of the people." He is silent in reference to the 
sentiments of President John Adams and John Q. Adams 
upon this important subject. The writer attentively ex- 
amined the inaugural addresses, messages, &c. of botho 
In reference to the first nothing specific is found in sup- 



86 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

port of a protective tariff; yet it is but justice to Mr. Ad- 
ams, to say that a protective tariff was laid and fostered 
under the administration of his predecessor, and \vas not 
disturbed by him ; to the contrary, the protective system, 
organized and fostered under the administration of Presi- 
dent Washino:ton, was carried out and strenp'thened until 
ifter the re-election of President Jackson in 183.2, after 
which the compromise act was passed, and which has 
;tcted on the revenue and upon the best interests of the 
great body of the people like a consumption upon a pa- 
tient. The body politic is now laboring under a pulmo- 
nary disease of several years standing — the national pa- 
dent requires restoratives; depletives have been used until 
the national patient can scarcely stand. Without ques- 
lioning the motives of the political doctors, who, a few 
years ago, commenced their sanative operations on the na- 
tional patient, then healthy apd vigorous, promising to 
]nake him more so, and render him immortal, they w^ere 
unsuccessful. They spoke of their nostrums as being 
greatly superior in their healing quality to any of the cure- 
alls offered at our apothecary shops. The result reminds 
one of the anecdote of a young disciple of Esculapius, who 
liad committed to memory two medical phrases, which he 
used on all occasions connected with his profession, and 
which his patients believed w^ere so comprehensive in 
meaning as to be applicable to all diseases. The one w^as 
'^ 'expectorate" and the other ^'congestive." On being told 
that he had been unsuccessful, that the most of his patients 
had died, he gravely answered, that he ''never failed to 
effect a cure when his medical treatment had the desired 
effect." It is but charitable to believe that the medical 
treatment of our political doctors would have been success- 
ful if it had produced the desired effect. As the people 
are anxious to be restored to their former political health 
and vigor, it is hoped and believed that they w'iU use the 
proper means.. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 87 

On examining the inaugural address and messages of 
President John Q. Adams, he is silent upon the subject of 
a protective tariflf, until he communicated his sentiments 
in his fourth and last annual message, which was after the 
contest between him and Gen. Jackson, and consequently 
Mr. Adams had not the benefit of his sentiments in that 
election in which he was defeated. The reader will bear 
in mind that President John Adams and John Q. Adams 
were candidates for re-election and were defeated ; and 
the same may be said of a president who followed ''in the 
footsteps of an illustrious predecessor," after he had de- 
parted from the '^footsteps" of Washington, Jefferson, 
Madison, and Monroe. Public sentiment indicates in lan- 
guage that cannot be misunderstood, that no candidate can 
hereafter be elected to the Presidential chair, who is known 
to be opposed to a protective tariff, unless the period 
should arrive at which such protection would not be ne- 
cessary or desireable ; at such a period, wdsdom would dic- 
tate that statesmen should act accordingly. The senti- 
ments of Mr. John Q. Adams, upon the subject, are w^or- 
thy of consideration. In his fourth annual message of 
December, 1828, he says — 

''The great interest of our agricultural, commercial and 
manufacturing nation, are so linked in union together, that 
no permanent cause of prosperity to one of them can op- 
erate without extending its influence to the others. All 
these interests are alike under the protecting power of the 
legislative authority, and the duties of the representative 
bodies are to conciliate them in harmony together. So far 
as the object of taxation is to raise a revenue for discharg- 
ing the debts, and defraying the expenses of the commu- 
nity, it should, as much as possible, suit the burden with 
equal hand upon all, in proportion to their ability of bear- 
ing it without oppression. But the legislation of one na- 
tion is sometimes intentionally made to bear heavily upon 
the interests of another. That legislation, adapted, as it 



88 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 



is meant to be, to the special interests of its own people, 
Avill often press most unequally upon the several compo- 
nent interests of its neighbors. Thus, the legislation of 
Great Britain, when, as has recently been avowed, adapt- 
ed to the depression of a rival nation, will naturally abound 
with regulations of interdict upon the productions of the 
soil or industry of the other which came in competition 
with its own, and will present encouragement, perhaps, 
even bounty, to the raw material of the other state, which 
it cannot produce itself, and which is essential for the 
use of its manufactures, competition in the markets of the 
world with those of its commercial rival. Such is the 
state of the commercial legislation of Great Britain as it 
hears upon our interests. It excludes with interdicting 
duties, all importation (except in time of approaching fam- 
ine), of the great staple productions of our middle and 
western states ; it proscribes with equal vigor, bulkier 
lumber and live stock of the same portion, and also of the 
northern and eastern part of our union. It refuses even 
the rice of the south, unless aggravated with a charge of 
duty upon the northern carrier who brings it to them. — 
But the cotton, indispensable for their looms, they v;ill re- 
ceive almost duty free, to weave it into a fabric of our 
own wear, to the destruction of our own rfianufacturers^ 
which they are thus imable to undersell.'^ 

''Is the self-protecting energy of this nation so helpless 
and powerless that there exists, in the political institutions 
of our country, no power to counteract the bias of this for- 
eign legislation? that the growers of gram must submit to 
this exclusion from the foreign markets of their produce — 
that the shippers must dismantle their ships, the trade of 
the north stagnate at the wharves, and the manufacturers 
starve at their looms, while the whole people shall pay 
tribute to foreign industry to be clad in a foreign garb — 
that the Congress of the Union is impotent to restore the 
balance in favor of native industry destroyed by the stat- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 89 

utes of another realm? More just and more generous sen- 
timents, will, I trust prevail. If the tariff adopted at the 
last session of Congress shall be found by experience to 
bear oppressively upon the interests of any one section of 
the Union, it ought to be, and I cannot doubt will be so 
modified as to alleviate its burden. To the voice of just 
complaint from any portion of their constituents, the rep- 
resentatives of the States and people will never turn away 
their ears. But so long as the duty of the foreign shall 
operate only as a bounty upon the domestic article, while 
the planter, the merchant, the shepherd, and the husband- 
man, shall be found thriving in their occupations under 
their duties imposed for the protection of domestic manu- 
facture, they will not repine at the prosperity shared vv^ith 
themselves by their fellow-citizens of o^her professions, 
nor denounce as violations of the constitution, the deliber- 
ate acts of Congress to shield from the wrongs of foreign 
laws the native industry of the Union. While the tariff 
of the last session of Congress was a subject of legislative 
deliberation, it is foretold by some of its opposers that one 
of its necessary consequences would be to impair the rev- 
enue. It is yet too soon to pronouce, with confidence, 
that this prediction w^as erroneous. The obstruction of 
one avenue of trade not unfrequently opens an issue to 
another. The consequence of the tariff will be to in- 
crease the exportation, and to diminish the importation, 
of some specific articles. But by the general law of trade, 
the increase of exportation of one article, wnll be followed 
by an increased importation of others, the duties upon 
which will supply the deficiencies, which the diminished 
importation would otherwise occasion. The effect of tax- 
ation upon revenue can seldom be foreseen with certainty. 
It must abide the test of experience. As yet no symp- 
toms of diminution are perceptible in the receipts of the 
Treasury. As yet, little addition of cost has even been 
experienced upon the articles burthened with heavier du- 



90 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ties imposed by the last tariff. The domestic manufactu- 
rer supplies the same or a kindred article at a diminished 
price, and the consumer pays the same tribute to the la- 
bor of his own countrymen, which he must otherwise have 
paid to foreign industry and toil.'' 

''The tariff of the last session w^as, in its details, not ac- 
ceptable to the great interests of any portion of the Union, 
not even to the interests which it w^as especially intended 
to subserve. Its object w^as to balance the burthens upon 
native industry imposed by the operation of foreign laws; 
but not to aggravate the burthens of one section of the 
Union by the relief offered by another. The great principle 
sanctioned by that act, one of those upon which the con- 
stitution itself was formed, I hope and trust, the authori- 
ties of the Union will adhere. But if any of the duties 
imposed by the act only relieve the manufacturer by ag- 
gravating the burthen of the planter, let a careful revisal 
of its provisions, enlightened by the practical experience 
of its effects, be directed to retain those which impart pro- 
tection to native industry, and remove or supply the place 
of those which only alleviate one great national interest 
by the depression of another." 

A few words are underscored. The sentiments express- 
ed by president Jackson in his message, two years after- 
wards, accord with the sentiments of Mr. Adams, his im- 
mediate predecessor. Both agreed that the tariff, as pass- 
ed at the session of 1827 and '28 was defective in some 
of its details; but both advocated the protective system — 
the uniform, policy of the government since its formation. 
And it was not known that the sentiments of President 
Jackson had undergone any change until after he was re- 
elected and the public debt extinguished. An opinion 
prevails among some statesmen, that, if the government 
could be supported without laying any duty whatever upon 
importations, that there would be no necessity for a tariff 
to protect our domestic industry, and that all foreign arti- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 91 

cles should be admitted free of duty or restrictions. — 
Plausible as this may seem, it is as absurd as it would be 
to say that quarentine laws should not be put in force un- 
til after a pestilence had spread through a city, or that the 
military should not be called into service until a foreign 
foe had invaded and taken possession of our soil. What 
would be said of the municipal authorities of a city, who, 
on beino: informed of a nuisance in its centre durinof doo;- 
days, would decline having it removed without proof that 
it produced disease.^ As some of our statesmen are advo- 
cates for the repeal of all tariff laws, and illustrating the 
feeling sense by raising a revenue from direct taxes, let us 
suppose their theory to be carried into practice : it w^ould 
not produce correspondmg laws on the part of foreign na- 
tions, but it would be to their interest to break up all our 
mechanics and manufacturers and monopolise the whole 
branches of mechanism. The first effect would be to throw 
out of employment all 600^ and shoemakers^ hatters^ tinners 
iron merchants^ and all mechanics^ except only, those close- 
ly connected with farming; and what w^ould they go at.^ 
They would be forced into agricultural pursuits which 
would increase the quantity of agricultural productions and 
lower their price, reduce the wages of labor ^ and in the lan- 
guage of Mr. Jefferson, we would have 'Ho be clothed in 
skins, and live like w^ld beasts in dens and caverns." — 
The United States in such a situation might be compared 
to a leaky ship at sea making w^ater faster than it could 
be pumped out without throwing over-board all her cargo 
and ballast, and then be in danger of foundering. In such 
a deplorable situation we W'Ould have a demonstration of 
the feeling sense. If the writer is not mistaken, every 
state in the Union has law^s to protect the industry of its 
own citizens against the intrusions of other states. Hap- 
pily for us the people are daily becoming sensible that it 
is to the interest of all to protect the mechanics of our own 
country, and they in return w^ill protect the agricultural in- 



92 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

terest. The true interest of the agricultural, mechanical, 
and mercantile classes in our wide-spread and fertile coun- 
try, cannot be separated without producing an effect simi- 
lar to that of cutting off an arm or a leg from the human 
body. We will next consider the sentiments of President 
Jackson, after he had changed his views upon the sub- 
ject or misapplied his principles. In his message of 1836, 
he says: — 

"You will perceive from the report or the secretary of 
the Treasury, that the financial means of the country con- 
tinue to keep pace with its improvements in all other res- 
pect. The receipts into the Treasury during the present 
year will amount to about $47,691,898; those from cus- 
toms being estimated at $22,523,151; those from lands 
at about $24,000,000, and the residue from miscellaneous 
sources. The expenditures for all objects during the year 
are estimated not to exceed $32,000,000, which will leave 
a balance in the Treasury for public purposes, on the first 
day of January next, of about $41,723,959. This sum, 
with the exception of five millions, will be transferred to 
the several States, in accordance with the provisions ot 
the act regulating the deposite of the public money." 

"Under our present system, there is every probability 
that there will continue to be a surplus beyond the wants 
of the government ; and it has become our duty to decide 
whether such a course be consistent with the true objects 
of our government." 

"Should a surplus be permitted to accumulate beyond 
the appropriations, it must be retained in the Treasury, as 
it now is, or distributed among the people of the states." 

"To retain in the Treasury, in any way, is impractica- 
ble. It is, besides, against the genius of our free institu- 
tions to lock up in the vaults the treasure of the nation. — 
To take from the people the right of bearing arms, and 
put their weapons in the hands of a standing army, would 
be scarcely more dangerous to their liberties, than to per- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 93 

mit the government to accumulate immense amounts of 
treasure beyond the supplies necessary to its legitimate 
wants. Such a treasure would doubtless be employed at 
some time, as it has been in other countries, when oppor- 
tuniy tempted ambition." 

"To collect it merely for distribution to the States, 
would seem to be highly impolitic, if not as dangerous as 
the proposition to retain in the Treasury. The shortest 
reflection must satisfy every one, that to require the people 
to pay taxes to the goverment merely that they may be 
paid back again, is sporting with the substantial interest 
of the country; and no system which produces such a re- 
sult can be expected to receive the public countenance. 

"A distribution to the people is impracticable and unjust 
in other respects. It would be taking one man's proper- 
ty and giving it to another. Such would be the unavoid- 
able result cf a rule of equality, (and none other is spoken 
of or would be likely to be adopted,) inasmuch as there is 
no mode by which the amount of individual contributions 
of our citizens to the public revenue can be ascertained. — 
We know that they coutribute unequally ; and a rule, 
therefore, that would distribute to them equally would 
be liable to all objections which apply to the principle of 
an equal division of property. To make the general gov- 
ernment the instrument of carrying this odious principle 
into effect, would be at once to destroy the means of its 
usefulness, and change the character desiged for it by the 
framers of the constitution." 

''But the more extended and injurious consequences 
likely to result from a policy which would collect a surplus 
revenue for the purpose of distributing it, may be forcibly 
illustrated by an examination of the effects already produ- 
ced by the present deposite act. This act, although cer- 
tainly designed to secure the safe-keeping of the public rev- 
enue, is not entirely free in its tendencies from many of 
the objections w^hich apply to this principle of distribution. 



94 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

The government had, without necessty, received from the 
people a large surplus, which, instead of being employed 
as heretofore, and returned to then by means of the public 
expenditure, was deposited with sundry banks. These 
banks proceeded to make loans upon this surplus, and 
thus converted it into banking capital ; and in this man- 
ner it has tended to multiply bank charters, and had a 
great agency in producing a spirit of wild speculation. — 
The possession and use of the property out of which this 
surplus w^as created belonged to the people; but the gov- 
ernment has transferred its possession to incorporated 
banks, whose interest and effort it is to make large profits 
out of its use. This process need only be stated to show 
its injustice and bad policy." 

^' ^' ^ ^ * ^'Let it be assumed, for the 
sake of argument, that the surplus moneys to be deposit- 
ed with the states have been collected and belongs to them 
in the ratio of their federal representative population — an 
assumption founded upon the fact that any deficiencies in 
our future revenue, from imports and public lands, must 
be made up by direct taxes collected from the states in 
that ratio. It is proposed to distribute the surplus, say 
$30,000,000, not according to the ratio in which it has 
been collected and belongs to the people of the states, but 
in that of their vote in the colleges of electors of president 
and vice-president. The effect of a distribution upon that 
ratio, is shown by the annexed table, marked A." 

''By the ratio of direct taxation, for example, the state 
of Delaware, in the collection of §30,000,0000 of revenue, 
would pay into the Treasury §189,716 ; and, in the dis- 
tribution of $30,000,000, she would receive back from 
the government, according to the ratio of the deposite bill, 
the sum of $306,122 ; and similar results would follow 
the comparison between the small and the large states 
throughout the Union; thus realizing to the small states 
an addvvantage which would be doubtless as unacceptable 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 95 

to them as a motive for incorporating the principle in any 
system which would produce it, as it would be inconsist- 
ent with the rights and expectations of large states." 

* * * *' ^ ''By the watchful eye of self- 
interest, the agents of the people in the state governments 
are represented and kept within the limits of a just econ- 
omy. But if the necessity of levying the taxes be taken 
from those who make the appropriations, and thrown upon 
a more distant and less responsible set of public agents, 
who have power to approach the people by an indirect 
and stealthy taxation, there is reason to fear that prodi- 
gality will soon supersede those characteristics which have 
thus far made us look with so much pride and confidence 
to the state governm.ents as the main stay of our union and 
liberty. The state legislatures, instead of studying to 
restrict their state expenditures to the smallest possible 
sum, will claim credit for their profusion and harrass the 
general government for increased supplies. Practically, 
there would soon be but one taxing power, and that vest- 
ed in a body of men far removed from the people, in which 
the farming and mechanic interests would scarcely be rep- 
resented. The states would gradually lose their purity as 
well as their independence , they would not dare to murmur 
at the proceedings of the general government, lest they 
should loose their supplies; all w^ould be merged in practical 
consolidation, cemented by wide-spread corruption, which 
could only be eradicated by one of those bloody revolutions 
wdiich occasionally overthrow the despotic systems of the 
old world. In all the other aspects in which I have been 
able to look at the effect of such a principle of distribution 
upon the best interests of ihe country, I can see nothing to 
compensate for the disadvantages to which I have advened. 
If w^e consider the protective duties, which are, in a great 
degree, the source of the surplus revenue, beneficial to one 
section of the the Union and prejudicial to another, there 
is no corrective for the evil in such a plan of distribution. 



96 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 

On the contrary, there is fears that all the complaints which 
have sprung from this cause would be aggravated. Eve- 
ry one must be sensible that a distribution of the surplus 
must beget a disposition to cherish the means which create 
it, and any system, therefore, into which it enters, must 
have a powerful tendency to increase rather than diminish 
the tariff. If itwere even admitted that the advantages of 
such a system could be made equal to alFihe sections of 
the Union, the reasons already calling for a reduction of 
the revenue would, nevertheless, lose none of their force ; 
for it will always be improbable that an intelligent and vir- 
tuous community can consent to raise a surplus for the 
mere purpose of dividing ir, diminished as it inevitably 
must be by the expenses of the various machinery neces- 
sary to the process." 

''The safest and simplest mode of obviating the difficul- 
ties which have been mentioned is to collect only revenue 
enough to meet the wants of the government, and let the 
people keep the balance of their property in their own 
hands, to use for their own profit. Each Siate will then 
support its own government, and contribute its due share 
to the support of the general government. There would 
be no surplus to cramp and lessen the resources of individ- 
ual wealth and enterprise, and the banks w^ould be left to 
their ordinary means. Whatever agitations and fluctuiions 
might arise from our unfortunate paper system, they could 
never be attributed, justly or unjustly, to the action of the 
federal government. There would be some guarantee that 
the spirit of wild speculation which seeks to convert the 
surplus revenue into banking capital, would be effectually 
checked, and the scenes of demoralizing which are now so 
prevalent through the land would disappear." 

"Without desiring to conceal that the experience and 
observations of the last two years have operated a partial 
change in my views upon this interesting, subjectit is nev- 
ertheless, regretted that the suggestions made by me in my 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 97 

nual messages of 1829 and '30 have been greatly misun* 
derstood. At that time, the great struggle began against 
that latitudinarian construction of the Constitution which 
authorizes the unlimited appropriation of the Union to In- 
ternal Improvements withm the states, tending to invest 
in the hands and place under the control of the general gov* 
ernraent all the principal roads and canals of the country, 
in violation of state rights, and in derogation of state au- 
thority. At the same time, the condition of the manufac- 
turing interests was such as to create an apprehension that 
the duties on imports could not, without extensive mis- 
chief, be reduced in season to prevent the accumulation 
of a considerable surplus after the payment of the national 
debt. In view of the dangers of such a surplus, and in pref- 
erence to its application to Internal Improvements, in der- 
ogation of the rights and powers of the states, the sugges- 
tion of an amendment of the Constitution to authorise its 
distribution was made. It was an alternative for what were 
deemed greater evils— a temporary resort to relieve an 
overburthened treasury, until the government could, with- 
out a sudden and destructive revulsion in the business of 
the country, gradually return to the first principle of rais- 
ing no more revenue from the people in taxes than is ne- 
cessary for its economical support. Even that alternative 
was not spoken ot but in connection with an amendment 
of the Constitution. No temporary inconveniennce can 
justify the exercise of a prohibited power or a power not 
granted by that instrument ; and it was from a conviction 
that the power to distribute even a temporary surplus of 
revenue is of that character, that it was suggested only in 
connection with an appeal to the source of all legal pow- 
er in the general government — the states which have es- 
tablished it. No such appeal has been taken ; and, in 
my opinion, a distribution of the surplus revenue by Con- 
gress, either to the states or to the people, is to be consid- 
ered as among the prohibitions of the Constitution. As 



98 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

already intimated, my views have undergone a change, so 
far as to be convinced that no alteration in the Constitu- 
tion in this respect is wise or expedient. The influence 
of an accumulating surplus upon the legislation of the gen- 
eral government and the states; its effect upon the credit 
system of the country, producing dangerous extensions and 
ruinous contractions, fluctuations in the price of property, 
rash speculations, idleness, extravagance, and a deteriora- 
ton of morals, have taught us the important lesson, that 
any transient mischief which may attend the reduction of 
our revenue to the wants of the government is to be borne 
in preference to an overflowing Traesury." 

Willingly would the writer have avoided the labor of so 
lengthy a quotation, if justice to President Jackson had 
not required that his arguments against a protective tariff 
and the distribution of a surplus revenue among the states, 
should be fully quoted ; and by doing him justice protect 
himself against a charge of making a garbled quotation^ 
which would have been inexcusable. The arguments in 
the foregomg extract against the protective system are the 
fountains from which all the arguments of its opponents 
flow. They are entitled to the most deliberate, impartial 
and scrutinizing consideration that can be bestowed upon 
them. First, as emanating from the fAe?i political head of 
the nation, in the most imposing official form. Secondly, 
from the principles involved, being at variance with the 
principles upon which the government had been previous- 
ly administered from its formation. A new principle is 
boldly asserted, which,if correct, the government has spent 
millions of dollars for which the people have not received 
one cent benefit; but have been injured beyond the 
amount of money thrown away. 

Two premises are assumed diS facts — first, that the du- 
ties on importations are wholly paid by the people of the 
United States^ as positively as if the revenue was raised 
by direct tax ; and that it is not paid by the producers or 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRltTM, 99 

manufacturers of foreign nations from which the importa- 
tions are made. 

Secondly— That to return to the states, or the people, 
any surplus revenue, improperly drawn from them, would 
produce "wide-spread corrupfion.^^ 

Not a single argument is used by Gen. Jackson to prove 
that his premises are correct; but, asuming them as such, 
without any demonstration at all, he has dwelt upon the 
injustice of the first and the demoralizing effect of the sec- 
ond. The first evidence against the premises assumed in 
both cases shall be the testimony of Gen. Jackson himself, 
solemnly given, and that too, after his mind had undergone 
a change upon the subject. He shall be relieved from his 
sentiments and arguments previously given in support of a 
protective tariff, and his reference to the sentiments of 
Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, 
which he referred to as confirming his own. Now for the 
cross examination of Gen. Jackson. In the message under 
consideration is a paragraph in the following words : — 

"The blessings of peace have not been secured by 
Spain. Our connections with that country are on the best 
footing with the exception of the burdens still imposed 
upon our commerce with her possessions out of Europe." 

If the tariff laid by our government upon the importa- 
tions from foreign nations, be a tax upon our own people 
who purchase and use them, it irresistibly follows that the 
duties imposed on our exportations by foreign govern- 
ments are paid by the people under those governments 
who use them, and it matters not to us whether our ex- 
ports to foreign nations are admitted free of duty, or wheth- 
er our flour pays a duty of ten dollars a barrel and a cor- 
responding duty on all other exports. If the first premises 
assumed are correct, the last sentence in relation to Spain, 
should have run thus : "Our connections wnth that coun- 
try remain on the best footing, except the heavy burdens 
imposed on her own citizens in support of our commerce 



1-00 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

with her possessions out of Europe, which while it does 
not affect us, enlists our sympathy for the people of Spain 
who labor under such burdens imposed by their own gov- 
ernment." Gen. Jackson and all his predecessors made 
repeated representations to Congress of the restrictions 
and ''burdens'' imposed upon our exportations by foreign 
nations ; and ministers have been appointed under every 
administration, and sent to foreign nations for the purpose 
of making commercial treaties, to admit our importations 
at as low a duty as possible. The salaries of those min- 
isters and their attendants, in connection with all other 
expenses attending their missions, must, since the founda- 
tion of the government, have cost many millions of dollars, 
all which was a useless expenditure, if the premises as- 
sumed by President Jackson are correct. 

Suppose that all the commercial revenue which has 
been raised since the foundation of the government had 
been derived from a capitation tax on the emigrants from 
foreign nations, would there not be as much propriety, or 
impropriety, in saying that the capitation tax was paid by 
the natives and not by the Jbreig7ierSy as to say that the 
tariff duties are w^iolly paid by consumers in the United 
States, and nothing paid by the foreign producers and ex- 
porters? Some of our friends in the country have to pass 
through toll-gates to reach our market-houses, and yet 
they cannot get a higher price for their butter and other 
articles than those who reach the market-house without 
passing gates and paying tribute. Those agriculturists 
who send their surplus to market by the way of pikes^ 
rail-roads and canals, do not, cannot, sell their produce a 
shade higher than those whose locality enable them to 
send their produce to market without touching a pike, rail- 
road, or canal. Who ever saw^ the price of flour stated 
thus in a Baltimore, or in any other paper : ''$6,00 if 
brought to market on a free road, or $6,25 to §6,50 per 
barrel, if brought in on a pike, rail-road or canal, proper- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. lOl 

tioned to tbe toll paid?" The advocates of Internal Im- 
provement never said or believed that it would increase 
the prices of surplus productions in our sea-port towns or 
in foreign markets, but that it would facilitate the trans- 
portation from the place of production to market and re- 
duce the price of transportation. But a barrel of flour sent 
to market by way of a pike, a railroad or canal, will not 
command a higher price than a barrel of flour sent on a 
free road. The same will apply to all other produce. — 
The opinion of some persons that rail-roads and canals 
operate against those farmers who can send their produce 
to market by their own teams, is absurd. All who are 
opposed to rail-roads and canals, are advocates for pikes 
or pave roads. Suppose that a barrel of flour could be for- 
warded by a rail-road or canal at the rate of ten cents for 
every fifty miles, (and other produce at the same rate,) 
and plasier brought on the return trip at the rate of one 
dollar a ton for every fifty miles, and everything else re- 
quired at the same price, it could not injure the farmer, 
who could send his produce to market by his own team, 
because he would have both the power and the right of 
deciding which would be the most to his interest, to wag- 
on to market his own produce, or to keep his wagon and 
team at home, employed or unemployed, and pay the price 
of transportation by the canals and railroads. But it is said 
by some, that the extension of Internal Improvements be- 
yond paved roads has been a serious injury to those who de- 
dended alone upon wagoning for a living, and that wag- 
on taverns have been injured. In all well regulated gov- 
ernments and societies, the interest of the many have a 
preference to the interests of the few. Disclaiming any- 
thing invidious or disparaging to any class of citizens, it 
w^ould not be more absurd to say that a small minority 
should govern an overwhelming democracy of numbers, 
than to say that the interests of those who exclusively live 
by wagoning, and those who live by keeping wagon tav- 



102 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

erns, should be supported by sacrificing the interests of 
all other classes of citizens. But it is doubtful whether 
there can be found in the United States a single man who 
cleared anything from wagoning exclusively. But admit 
that one or more can be found who cleared anything by 
wagoning, exclusively, the number is certainly small, com- 
pared with the number w^ho found it a sinking business. 

Gen. Jackson, in his third annual message, second par- 
agraph, uses the following beautiful and sensible language, 
on the subject of Internal Improvement: 

"Agriculture, the first and most important occupation 
of man, has compensated the labors of the husbandman 
with plentiful crops of all the varied productions of our 
extensive country. Manufactures have been established 
in which the funds of capitalists find a profitable invest- 
ment, and which give employment and subsistence to a 
numerous and increasing body of industrious and dexter- 
ous mechanics. The labourer is rewarded by high wages 
in the construction of works of Internal Improvement, 
which are extending with unprecedented rapidity. Sci- 
ence is steadily penetrating the recesses of nature, and dis- 
closing her secrets, while the ingenuity of free minds is 
subjeciins^ the elements to the power of man, and making 
each new conquest auxiliary to his comfort. By our mails, 
whose speed is regularly increased, and whose routs are 
every year extended, the communication of public intelli- 
gence and private business, is rendered frequent and safe; 
the intercourse between distant cities, which formerly re- 
quired Wrecks to accomplish, is now effected in a few days, 
and in the construction of railroads and the application of 
steam power, we have a reasonable prospect that the ex- 
treme parts of our country will be so much approximated, 
and those most isolated by the obstacles of nature ren- 
dered so accessible, as to remove an apprehension some- 
times entertained, that the great extent of the Union would 
endanger its permanent existence," 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 103 

When President Jackson penned the message from 
which the foregoing paragraph is quoted we were flourish- 
ing under a protective tariff; our prosperity was onward; 
the national debt was diminishing in proportion as all 
classes of society were advancing in prosperity and solid 
comfort. It is not asserted thattheprotective tariff was 
the cause of ihe rain which was poured down by an all- 
wise Providence — for it "rains upon the just and the un^ 
just" — but it is contended that the effects of the system 
stimulated all classes of society to industry and laudable 
enterprise. In the sublime language of the President, proof 
of its effects was given in "subjecting the elements to the 
power of man, and making each new conquest auxiliary 
to his.comfort." Reason and revelation unite in teaching 
us that we need not expect any special blessings from our 
heavenly Father, unless we use means which he has be^ 
stowed upon us to obtain them. The prayers of the hus- 
bandman would be unanswered (and they ought to be,) 
unless he first used the plough and attended to his avoca- 
tion. Just so with all other classes of society. In vain 
may w^e expect to be restored to that sound state of onward 
prosperity, in a national and individual point of view, from 
which we have been withdrawn, until we have a protect- 
ing tariff. Experience ^vill ultimately triumph over party 
and prejudice ; the intelligence, virtue and patriotism of 
the great body of the people will triumph over party poli- 
ticians ; the people will catechise their candidates in ref- 
erence to MEASURES, not party names. By the weight of 
a party name, many candidates have reached office; but 
the signs of the times indicate that the political issue to 
be enjoined, will be between conflicting measures ; the 
jurors will consist of the great body of the people who are 
honest and intel ligent ; and political party names will, it 
is fairly believed, have no more weight in their decision 
than the names of parties to a civil suit in a court have 
with the jurj^, 



104 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

To enable the candid inquirer to form a correct opinion 
of the effect of a protective tariff upon all classes in our 
Vvide-spread country, industriously engaged in various pur- 
suits, all having a tendency to promote the general good 
if not counteracted by the policy of foreign governments 
or that of our own, it is necessary that he should study the 
principles of proportion, attraction and repulsion, gravity, 
mechanism, and agriculture, and arrive, thereby, as near 
as possible to an equilibrium. The author might con- 
tinue the category of ideas embracing principles necessary 
to be understood and properly applied in support of the 
important measure now under consideration. 

The writer will consider the effect of a protecting tariff 
upon imported hats, which will apply to all other articles 
which we can manufacture in superabundance. He has 
selected hats, not because he wishes to give hatters a 
preference over any other class of mechanics, but it was 
necessary to specify some articles, and if he had named 
saddles, boots or shoes, the question might have been ask- 
ed, why w^ere hats not selected? With tea, coffee and 
other necessary agricultural articles which cannot be pro- 
duced in the tJnited States, we have nothing to do. We 
might as well talk about constructing a railroad from N. 
York to London, as to speak of a protective tariff on ne- 
cessary agricultural articles, which neither the soil or cli- 
mate of the United States will produce. 

The often repeated objection to a protective tariff, that 
it is a Whig measure, cannot have the slightest weight 
with men w^hose minds are free from prejudice and who 
will decide the question as honest men settle their accounts 
— by striking balances upon the arithmetical principles of 
addition and subtraction. It is the writer's duty, as being 
impartial, to state, in justice to the Democrats, that many 
of them are uncompromising advocates of a protective 
tariff. At many congressional elections, the opposing par- 
ty candidates unequivocally declared themselves in favor 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 105 

of the system. If it was a test question at succeeding 
elections, unconnected with any other consideration, every 
district north of the Potomac, with few exceptions, would 
go for protection to home industry. The same may 
be said of the great west, and the south is divided. — 
Every man in this congressional district who is informed 
upon this all-important subject, knows that a majority of 
the people are in favor of it. The interest of the agricul- 
turists and mechanics are so completely entwined with each 
other that they cannot be separated without injury to both. 
Two hatters have localities surrounded by such differ- 
ent and conflicting circumstances, that one of them sells 
his hats at fifty cents, each, higher than the other. But 
the one who sells at the higher price vends but two hun- 
dred annually and the other sells a thousand. Hence, the 
one who sells at the lower price, clears the more money ; 
it then follows that the profit on a single hat is of small 
importance to the hatter — that it is to the quantity he sells 
he must look for support, and not to the profit on a single 
hat. And the same will apply to all the various branches 
of mechanism. In all our cities, towns, villages, and in 
the most isolated stores we find imported hats, and those 
who buy them, generally purchase at stores and not at the 
hat shops. Imported and domestic hats are retailed al- 
most exclusively at stores, and both must bear a price 
proportioned to quality; the result i«: that domestic hatters 
are limited in the number they manufacture ; not because 
hats are not wanting, but because the tariff on imported 
hats is so low, that thousands, perhaps millions, are annu- 
ally imported from foreign work-shops, thrown into our 
markets, and large sums of money annually carried out of 
our country for articles which our own mechanics could 
and would furnish in superabundance, of equal quality and 
at a lowei^ price, if they were so protected from foreign 
competition as to get sale for all they could make. If, in- 
deed, the foreign hats are not sold for cash, such articles 



106 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

only are purchased from us as the foreigner would prefer 
to cash; foreign nations will take nothing from us which 
is not indispensible, except upon such terras as give them 
an advantage in the exchange. Now, suppose, that Con- 
gress, with a view of reducing the number of imported 
hats without reducing the amount of revenue duties up- 
on them, but with a view of increasing the demand for 
domestic manufactured hats, and affording a market for 
them, should double the tariff on imported hats, is it not 
reasonable to conclude that the domestic hatters would in- 
crease the number of hats previously made at their shops 
that journeymen hatters could obtain employment and ap- 
prentices obtain situations? We next suppose that doub- 
ling the tariffdid not reduce the importations; what would 
have been the consequence. The revenue on hats would 
have been doubled w^ithout an increase or decrease in the 
number imported; and the number of domestic hats would 
have been increased. Under such circumstances no man 
in his senses could believe that the price of hats would 
have been advanced when they had increased in number 
at our own shops. We next suppose that Congress, a- 
gain, doubled the duty on imported hats, and that it had 
the effect of reducing the number of importations one half, 
whilst the revenue would have remamed just what it w^as, 
previous to the last advance, and double what it was, 
previous to adding the first protecting tariff. Now can 
any man who will impartially consider the subject, doubt 
that the increasing of the tariff on imported hats would not 
have increased the number manufactured in our own 
shops? Can any calculatmg mai? who studies the princi- 
ples of proportion, action and counteraction, suppose that 
the price of hats would have been increased by affording 
such a protection to home industry? Taking into consid- 
eration that we possess all the materials for makmg hats, 
boots, shoes, saddles and various other articles, the use of 
which has rendered them indispensible, and an abundance 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 107 

of worthy mechanics, can it be doubted that the increase 
of manufactured articles in our own shops would reduce 
the price? Bear in mind, also, the vast sum of money 
which would annually be retained in the country — a rev- 
enue preserved sufficient for the support of the govern- 
ment. What has been advanced in support of protection 
to the productions of mechanism specified, will apply to 
all other imported articles and commodities, which can, 
with convenience be manufactured to any required extent 
by our own mechanics and from our own raw materials. 
It follows then upon arithmetical principles that the natu- 
ral tendency of a protecting tariff is to counteract the pol- 
icy of foreign nations and to reduce the price of domestic 
articles of manufacture, and increase the wealth, piosper- 
ity, happiness and social condition of all classes of socie- 

We next consider the bearing of the tariff imposed by 
foreign nations upon our exports. An American shipment 
of tobacco is made to a Spanish, or any other foreign port 
and sold at twenty dollars a hundred, but in the language 
of President Jackson it is ''hardened" by a duty often 
dollars for every hundred pounds, which, being paid by 
the shipper, leaves him ten dollars on every hundred pounds. 
Now, if the duty were but one dollar per hundred weight 
the shipper would receive nineteen dollars for every hun- 
dred pounds after paying the duty: — a vast difference in 
the sale of a thousand hogsheads. Now if it be said that 
such a tariff would act like a two edged sword, cutting on 
both sides — that it would be a "burden" on the American 
shipper and also on the foreign consumers — we answer 
that if the people of the nation which imposed the "bur- 
den" complamed of by Gen. Jackson, could raise tobacco 
as conveniently and abundantly as corn (including all 
kinds of grain) is produced in tlie United States, that so 
far from the high tariff being a "burden" on the foreign 
consumers, it would reduce the price. How.^ Answer: 



108 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Because, it would create competition among the growers 
af tobacco, w^ho, knowing that the tariff would limit and 
greaUy reduce the quantity which otherwise would be im- 
ported, would secure to them the home market, and the 
large quantity which they could raise and would produce 
ivould compensate them for the low price arising from 
the quantity raised, and the price would be much less fluc- 
tuating than it would be if regulated by foreign importa- 
tions. Fluctuations in the prices of domestic or foreign 
articles are productive of inconvenience to all and often 
ruinous to prudent and cautious men. 

We next take a shipment of flour to a foreign port, 
W'hich is sold at ten dollars a barrel and pay a duty of five 
dollars, and leaves five dollars a barrel to the shipper. If 
the duty was but one dollar a barrel, the shipper would 
receive nine dollars for each barrel after paying the duty, 
— a vast difference on a shipment of ten thousand barrels. 

Next we take a cargo of cotton. If it is shipped to a 
manufacturing nation, the soil and climate of which are 
such that cotton cannot be raised, the tariff is adapted to 
the case. If the nation has colonies in which cotton is 
raised sufficient to supply it, a preference is given to the 
colonies, and our exportations of cotton are subjected to 
a tariff similar to that spoken of on our exportations of to- 
bacco and flour. But if the manufacturing nation has no 
such colonies, imported cotton is admitted from the United 
States or some other cotton growing country lightly ''bur- 
dened" and generally paid for in manufactured fabrics. 

What we have said of tobacco, flour and cotton will ap- 
ply to rice, lumber and all other exported articles. 

There is a game called snap. The cream of the game 
is this: — if those who play at it continue as long as their 
money lasts, the game-keeper is certain to pocket the ivhole 
of it. Just so with the tariff imposed upon our exports 
by foreign nations which have constantly been playing up- 
on us the game of snap— their custom-house officers are 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. KK) 

the garae-keepers and they have pocketed a large portion 
of our money, ^.nd fleeced us of most of our exports. 

We next contrast our tariff with that of foreign nations. 
An importation of fabrics arrives, consisting of cloths. — 
The first quality of broad cloth is sold or valued at the 
custom-house at eight dollars a yard and pays a tariff of 
one dollar and sixty cents a yard, which leaves the for- 
eign importer six dollars and forty cents a yard after pay- 
ing the duty. Now, if the duty were four dollars a yard, 
he would have but four dollars a yard after paying duty, 
and two dollars and forty cents more, on each yard, would 
be paid into the Treasury. We next take the second qual- 
ity which is sold or valued at six dollars a yard ad valor- 
em^ and days a duty of one dollar and tw^enty cents a yard 
and leaves the foreign importer four dollars and eighty 
cents a yard after paying the duty. If the duty were three 
dollars a yard, he would only have three dollars a yard left 
after paying the tariff, and one dollar and eighty cents 
more on each yard would go into the Treasury. The in- 
telligent reader wall apply the arithmetical principle 
throughout the cargo; and then do not forget to apply 
the rule and principles to all fabrics and articles of every 
kind w^hich can be produced and manufactured, to any 
required extent, in our own country and by our own ag- 
riculturists, shepherds and mechanics. Upon the princi- 
ples of a protecting tariff, discriminately and judiciously 
laid, some articles w^ould be admitted free of duty; others, 
lightly touched; and others, heavily. 

Those W'ho go against a protective tariff, contend for 
the unsound and withering principle that a dollar's worth 
of tea or coffee, neither of which can be produced in the 
United vStates, should pay as much duty as a pair of shoes 
valued at a dollar. Is this sound policy? What say you, 
farmers and mechanics? If the government gives a just 
preference to our owm cordwainers and other mechanics, 
they in turn, w^ill purchase from the farmers provisions for 



110 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM.] 

their families, and appear at their market-houses, with bas- 
kets on their arms, presenting cheerful countenances. — 
Why is it that so many mechanics apply for the benefit of 
the insolvent laws, whilst others are out of employment? 
Is it for the want of industry or sound morals? No? It is 
because government does not protect them from foreign 
competition. Our mechanics do not ask for extravagant 
prices for their labor and manufactured articles; they only 
ask for employment. 

Some time ago the writer purchased a pair of shoes, a^ 
a shop, for which he paid two dollars and seventy-five 
cents. He intimated that he thought the price too 
high, and asked the mechanic if he could not sell them 
lower; he appeared disposed to evade the question; the 
writer renewed it, and he answered, with evident reluc- 
tance, 'Hhat if he could sell all he could make, he could 
afford to take less." There the conversation ended; but 
he spoke volumes in support of the protective system. — 
Were it not for the vast quantity of imported shoes, the 
price of domestic would be greatly reduced, and the profits 
of the mechanics increased by the additional number which 
they would sell; they would pay their debts in money or 
in their manufactured articles, and not by the benefit of 
the insolvent laws; the interests of our agriculturists and 
mechanics would be united like partners in business, and 
both classes could not fail to prosper. 

But it may be asked how the protective system would 
act upon an American merchant who would purchase fab- 
rics and various articles of merchandise from a foreign na- 
tion, and import them into the United States ? The an- 
-swer is easy, and is at hand. The merchants as well know 
their interest as do farmers and mechanics know theirs — 
not better. A merchant well knowing the duties which 
the imported articles would have to pay at an American 
custom-house, would only purchase at such a reduced price 
as would subject the foreign merchant or manufacturer to 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. Ill 

the payment of the duty ; or, if, for argument sake, he 
acted differently, the loss would fall upon him, not upon 
the consumers. If an American merchant should act so 
unwisely as to purchase a cargo of coal at Liverpool, and 
transport it to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, he alone would 
pay for his folly. 

It should be borne in mind that it is not the money ex- 
pended and circulated in a country that impoverishes it, 
and paralyses the physical and moral actions of the people, 
but it is the money that is sent out ofit^ or locked up in 
vaults and withheld from circulation. Wherever money 
circulates freely, the energies of the whole people are use- 
fully developed, and are potent, and a wholesome state of 
morals exists. In all countries in which money is concen- 
trated in the hands of the few, the many are sunk in hu- 
man misery and degradation — there is not a single excep- 
tion. Besides "the laborer is worthy of his hire," and no 
man is so industrious as to work for nothing and find him- 
self, rather than to be idle. It is as much the duty of gov- 
ernment to adopt and carry out measures with a view to 
stimulate the people to industry, the foundation of health 
and sound morals, and to secure to them the fruits of their 
labor, by protecting them from foreign competition, as it 
is the duty of parents to instruct their children in industry 
and business habits, and impress upon them the import- 
ance of good morals. 

The second position assumed by President Jackson is 
"that to return to the states or the people, any surplus rev- 
enue improperly drawn from them would produce wide- 
spread corruption^ This is a new principle in ethics, 
subsequently contradicted by the venerable ex-president 
himself, by his accepting a remittance of the fine of one 
thousand dollars, with interest, assessed by Judge Hall. 
On Sunday, the 5th of March, 1815, Gen. Jackson, then 
commanding the army at N. Orleans, caused Louis Lou- 
allier, a member of ^the Louisiana Legislature, to be ar 



112 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

rested under Martial Law, charged with writing and pub* 
lishing a communication in the Louisiana Courier, of the 
3d of that month, remonstrating against the continuance 
of iMartial Law, ^s unofficial^ butre/ia&/e, inforvnation had 
been received on the iSth of February preceeding, of the 
treaty of peace at Gent. Mr. Louallier, through his coun- 
sel P. L. Morrel Esq , applied to Judge Hall, of the U. 
States District Court for a writ of Habeas Corpus which 
was granted, but it was resisted by Gen. Jackson who 
caused the Judge to be arrested and imprisoned. Loual- 
lier was tried by a Court Martial and acquited on the 11th 
of March. On the same day Judge Hall, by the order of 
Gen. Jackson, was marched about four miles from New 
Orleans, and liberated. But Louallier was not liberated 
until the official information of peace was received on the 
22d of March. Martial Law having ceased, the Civil Law 
was re-established, and Gen. Jackson tried and fined as 
above stated. 

The foregoing is a short but correct copy of the import- 
ant facts, from the records. The writer wall dismiss the 
subject w4th this brief remark: '-Where the Military pow- 
er rules, the Civil Law is silent.'^ 

If government or an individual improperly and unjust- 
ly takes from one, money or property, its return w' ould be 
but justice, and his receiving it would not be an immoral 
act, nor can it be fairly said that its reception could have 
a tendency to corrupt -him. Upon the principle advanced 
in the message, payment ought to be vrithheld from an 
honest creditor, because the payment might corrupt him; 
and property ox money, forcibly and unjustly taken ought 
to be withheld, to prevent corrupting the rightful owner. 
But if the principle advanced by President Jackson is cor- 
rect, why not strike at the root of the evil, and eradicate 
it, by prohibiting ihe importation of such articles as can be 
produced or iHRnufaciured in our owu country wiih con- 
Tenience, and to any required amount, and admit such 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 113 

necessary articles, only, as would raise a tariff sufficient for 
the support of government and thus prevent the wolf from 
entering the sheep-fold? 

The maxim that it is '^against the genius of our free in- 
stitutions to lock up in vaults the treasure of the nation," 
is sound. But the conclusion that the distribution of mon^ 
ey among the people, which it is alleged was unnecessa- 
rily drawn, would create ''wide spread corruption," is tru- 
ly a paradox. The reference made to the banks making 
large profits out of the deposits will be attended to in the 
chapter upon banks. 

The references made to table A. renders its publication 
unnecessary* The distribution bill proposed to distriute 
the surplus money among the States in proportion to the 
number of electoral votes cast by each State for President 
and vice President, instead of a distribution propordoned 
to the number of inhabitants, by which Delr.vare and oth- 
er small States, each having as many senators c'.s the large 
States, and the elector for each senator, would receive a 
fraction more than their proportion. "Inequahiy is not 
ahvays injustice," said President Jackson, in his second 
annual message, recommending distribution upon the very 
principle w^hich he now" denounces as calculated to pro- 
duce "wide spread corruption."!!! The inequality com- 
plained of could have been removed by a bUi providing 
for the distribution in proportion to the number of inhabi- 
tants. The principle of ''penny w^ise and pound foolish," 
and the practice of "straining at a gnat and swallowing a 
camel," have never been prcdactive of great benefits." 

The following letter from Gen. Jackson contains senti- 
ments which are entertained by the advocates of a protec- 
tive tariff. The foWow'mg facts should be considered wuth 
the contents of the letter. At the period of its date the 
author of it, together with Mr. Crawford, the regularly 
nominated Republican candidate, Mr. Adams and Mr. 
Clay, w^ere before the people for the presidency^ and the e- 

H 



114 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 



lection took place the ensuing fall. Secondly, it was indus- 
triously circulated by the friends of Gen. Jackson. Third 
and lastly, we have his authority for saying that his senti- 
ments did not undergo a change until after he was re-elec- 
ted in '32, and after the national debt was liquidate. In 
the lengthy quotation in the preceeding pages, from his 
last annual message of Dec, '36, he speaks of a change of 
sentiment upon the tariff question, to which the reader can 
turn. Ten years before the people as the advocate of a 
protective tariff; elected and re-elected as an advocate of 
the protective system ; under its operation paid offthe pub- 
lic debt, left a surplus of nearly forty millions, and then 
denounced the system as calculated to corrupt the people 
and ruin the county. It is considered the height of in- 
gratitude for a man to turn his heel against his benefactor 
after having received from him all he asked for, and then 
denounce him as having been influenced in his acts of 
generosity and kindness by impure motives. The writer 
does not impeach or question the motives of Gen. Jackson 
for abandoning the protective system which aided in bring- 
ing him into power, paid offthe national debt and stimu- 
lated the people to industry and laudable enterprise. The 
opinions and sentiments of all men are more or less formed 
by surrounding circumstances, and their peculiar cast of 
mind. An infant the offspring of Christian parents, trans- 
ported to Morocco, raised and educated there, would be a 
Mussulman ; and an infant, the offspring of Mahometan 
parents, transferred to the United States, raised and edu- 
ucated here, would be a Christian. 

GEN. JACKSON TO DR. COLMAN. 

Washington, April 20, 1824, 
Heaven smiled upon and gave us liberty and indepen- 
dence. That same Providence has blessed us with means 
of national independence and national defence. If we 
orait or refuse to use the gifts which He has extended to 
us, we deserve not the continuation of His blessing. He 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 115 

has filled our mountains and our plains with minerals-with 
lead, iron and copper, and given us a climate and soil for 
the growing of hemp and wood. These being the great 
materials of our national defence, they ought to have ex- 
tended to them adequate and fair protection: that our man- 
ufacturers and laborers may be placed in a fair competition 
with those of Europe, and that we may have within our 
country a supply of those leading and important articles so 
essential to war. 

I will ask what is the real situation of the agricultural- 
ist? Where has the American farmer a market for his sur- 
plus produce? Except for cotton he has neither a foreign 
nor a home market. Does not this clearly prove, when 
there is no market at home or abroad, that there is too much 
labor employed in agriculture? Common sense at once 
points out the remedy. Take from agriculture in the U. 
States six hundred thousand m.en, women and children, 
and you will at once give a market for more bread stutfs 
than all Europe now furnishes us. In short, sir, we have 
been too long subject to the policy of British merchants. 
It is time we should become alittle more "Americanized,"' 
and instead of feeding paupers and laborers of England, 
feed our own; or else, in a short time, by continuing our 
policy, we shall be rendered paupers ourselves. It is there- 
fore, my opinion that a careful and judicious tariff is much 
wanted to pay our national debt, and to afford us means 
of that defence within ourselves on which the safety of our 
country depends ; and last though not least, give a proper 
distribution to our labor, which must prove beneficial to 
the happiness, independence, and wealth of the commu- 
nity. I am, sir, very respectfjily. 

Your most obedient servant, 
ANDREW JACKSON. 

The opponents of the protective system, who are gov- 
erned by abstractions, regardless of surrounding circum- 
stances, which govern and qualify abstractions, frequently 



116 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM.' 

r£fer to the oppressive effect of the British corn laws as a 
poser to the arguments in support of protection. But all 
our standards of language give different meanings to the 
words protection and oppression: they are not synonymous. 
Upon the principles of a protective tariff, as contended for 
by its advocates, the British corn laws ought to be repealed. 
What w^ould be protective and beneficial in one country, 
would be oppressive and distressing in another, surround- 
ed by different and unavoidable circumstances, locality, 
soil and productions, extent and population. The limits 
of the British island are so small compared with its popu- 
lation, that, if every man on it had his pockets full of gold, 
a sufficiency of bread and other provisions could not, gen- 
erally, be procured for all the inhabitants, if importations 
were prohibited. Corn, the most productive of all grain in 
a genial soil and climate cannot be successfully cultivated; 
and wheat is a precarious crop. Cobbett^ and a few oth- 
ers, cultivated corn in England ; but it w^as soon abandon- 
ed, as it was found that its cultivation decreased the quan- 
tity of grain raised. If the population of England was as 
small in proportion to its territory as is the population of 
the United States, and as great a surplus of grain annual- 
ly raised, the price would be so low that no foreign coun- 
try could afford to export bread stuff to England, even if it 
were admitted duty free, unless it w^as occasionally taken 
as ballast in place of sand. Such is the vast extent of 
territory of the United States, the variety of soil and cli- 
mate, its general fertility, that a vast surplus of grain is 
annually produced for exportation. And if the govern- 
ment were to adopt just such corn law;3 as they have in 
England, they \voiild subject us to ridicule, but we would 
not hear of the laboring class suffering for bread. Such 
law^s could not raise the price of provisions in ihe United 
States. 

It woiiid be cruel to reproach a man afBicted by a fever 
or ''^>* '^ ' ' ■/ r * . 'C . -7T^-*' ' Sp^n^V - -' p Y;-- avoid- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 117 

ed ; equally cruel, perhaps would it be to reproach a man 
whose j udgments is so completely superseded hy party as 
to believe that if the United States were to enact just such 
corn laws as those of England, the laboring class would 
be pinched by hunger. Now, as the body of the people 
are honest, having no wish to deceive or be deceived, it is 
only necessary for them to lay aside party fetters and exer- 
cise their reasoning faculties. Suppose Congress should 
enact such corn laws as those of England, would they 
reduce the quantity of2:rain and other provisions, increase 
prices of provisions and produce hunger and distress among 
the laboring: class? The answer is submitted to the read- 
er. Those who refer to the corn laws of England as af- 
fording an argument against a protective tariff, act as ab- 
surdly as they would by declaring that the proper mode to 
decide the question would be to lock up a number of men 
in prison, allow each, daily, an ounce of bread, and if it 
were not sufficient to support him, that the protective sys- 
tem ought to be abandoned. The protective system can 
be supported upon the principle of reason, and can only be 
opposed upon the principle of party supplying the place of 
argument and established facts. 

If the opponents of protection can succeed it will be a 
triumphant victory for the governments of Europe, whose 
interest and object it is to destroy all our manufactories 
and work-shops ; and whilst the great body of the people 
would suffer from the policy, they could derive no benefit 
from the motives of its advocaies, however pure. The op- 
ponents of the protective system in Congress, represent the 
interest and intentions of the European governments, so 
far as the tariff question is concerned, as fully as could an 
equal number of members delegated by European govern- 
ments ; but with greater effect. It is not the motives of 
the opponents of protection that are called into question; — 
but their measures. The writer daily meets in the streets 
of Hagerstown, worthy and industrious mechanics who are 



118 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

out of employment, not on account of the British corn 
laws producing a scarcity of bread in the U. States, but 
because the vast amount of importations deprive them of 
a market or demand for their manufactured articles. It 
will not furnish them with food and raiment to tell them 
that the opponents of protection are influenced by correct 
motives, and they must "stick to their party," even if 
their children should cry for bread, and together with their 
parent, suffer from hunger and cold whilst surrounded by 
plenty. If we were henceforth and forever cut off from 
commerce and communication with every other nation, we 
would stand in the relative position of a distinct world^ as 
much so, as if we were separated millions of miles from 
any other. As w^e can readily suppose such a case, what 
would be our situation? The present inhabitants would 
be deprived of some of the luxuries of life but our posteri- 
ty w^ould not. What is a luxury in one section of the 
world is not so in another. An apple in the West Indies 
is as great a luxury as an orange in Canada. 

It would be better for the United States to be placed in 
the situation supposed, than to adopt the policy of the op- 
ponents of protection, which, if carried out, will benefit 
stock jobbers and individuals of large capital — benefit one 
man and impoverish hundreds. The extent of our territo- 
ry, and its variety of soil and climate, are sufflcient to af- 
ford the necessaries and comforts of life? both food and 
raiment. The fact that this globe constitutes but one 
world, affords no argument against a protective tariff. — 
and desirable as it is to every philanthropist to have com- 
mercial and friendly intercourse wath all the nations of the 
earth, that desire can only be founded in interest. Inter- 
ested motives, which are not founded in unjust principles, 
but purely of a national character, are laudable. The pref- 
erence which parents give to their own offspring is not in- 
justice to the children of others ; and, upon the same prin- 
ciple, it is the duty of our government, yea, it is the object 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 119 

for which it Was formed, to protect ancd advance the pros- 
perity and comfort of its own subjects or constituents as 
far as practicable, without injustice to other nations. 

It would not be possible to have a tariff upon a scale 
which might not produce a large surplus revenue over the 
estimate of the wisest financier in the nation, and over the 
ordinary expenses of government. The imports and rev- 
enue of one year might double, trible, or quadruple that 
of a preceding or succeeding year, without any modifica- 
tion of the tariff; and in such a case, if the nation was 
clear of debt, reason and justice would dictate that it should 
be distributed among the States as heretofore approved of 
by President Jackson, or expended in improvements of a 
national character. The annual revenue from the sales of 
land, has varied from about one to twenty-four millions of 
dollars. — See page 92. 

The writer has no motive to deceive nor has he any dis- 
position to do so; his object is to examine the effects of 
a protective tariff upon arithmetical principles, as near as 
practical. It has been conceeded that the duty on many 
imported articles is paid in part by the consumers ; the 
portion paid by them, cannot be arrived at, to mathemat- 
ical accuracy, but doubtless, they pay a greater portion 
on such articles as are in general use, than on those which 
are seldom called for. The duty on wheat and all grain 
and bread stuffs, has not advanced their price, but if there 
should be such a general failure of crops throughout the 
Union, as to render large importations of bread stuff in- 
dispensible to prevent a famine, (which, however improb- 
able, is by no means impossible,) the duty of twenty per 
cent, would bear heavy upon us. The friends of the pres- 
ent tariff of '46, say that it was laid for revenue, without 
any desire for protection, which they repudiate. It com- 
mences with a duty of one hundred per cent, on various 
articles, among which is, ''brandy and other spirits dis- 
tilled from grain or other materials," The next class of 



120 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

importations pay a duty of forty per cent., araong which 
are ''wines and imitations of wines;" then a lot at a du- 
ty of thirty per cent., among which are "articles worn by 
men, w^omen, and children, of whatever material compos- 
ed, made up, or made wholly or in part, by hand;" in- 
cluding "hats and bonnets." Also, "coal, iron in bars, 
blooms, bolts, castings of iron, sugar, and saddlery." — 
Next at twenty^five per cent., and includes "manufactures 
composed wholly of cotton" &c. Then at twenty per cent, 
including w^heat and other grain, leather, ground plaster 
Paris, pork, meats, candles &c. Next to fifteen, then ten, 
and lastly to five per cent. Tea, Coffee, and some other 
articles named are free of duty. On all goods and articles 
not specified, a duty of twenty per cent. 

The writer wall admit for the sake of argument only, 
that the entire duties amounting annually, to from tw^enty 
to thiity millions of dollars, is paid by the consumers, and 
nothing by the foreign producers. That domestic articles 
are advanced in price to the amount of the duty on im- 
ported articles of the same kind, and that consequently 
the people of the United States are paying tw^enty per 
cent, on all the bread they eat, and are indirectly taxed 
annually from a dollar to a dollar and fifty cents for every 
man, woman and child in the Union. The question then 
presents itself, w^hether the duties should or should not 
be discriminating? The object of a protective tariff is not 
to raise a surplus revenue for distribution — not at all. — 
The advocates of the system, desire first, to raise a suffi- 
cient revenue to meet the annual and necessary expendi- 
tures of government, and support its credit by the pay- 
ment of any debts it may have contracted, 

And secondly, to lay the duties discriminatingly to fa- 
vor all the w^orking classes of our own country, and place 
the duties as far as practical on the foreign producers — 
this is the protection and political economy, advocated by 
the whig party ; — the m-O.tiyAS of thos^ who adyopgite a 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 121 

different policy, are not questioned : they believe (honest- 
ly no doubt,) that duties ought to belaid, without regard 
to protection. 

The protective policy which gives a preference to our 
own working classes over those of foreign nations, is ob- 
jected to by some, as anti-christians — that we should not 
counteract the selfish policy of other nations, — that it is 
in violation of the Divine precept ''Whatsoever ye would 
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." — 
Many of those pious politicians who thus oppose the pro- 
tective system as anti- christian, declare that the war with 
Mexico was just and called for, and denounce all those 
who express the opinion that it might have been honora- 
bly avoided. The writer has said nothing for or against 
the Mexican War; neither will he advance an opinion 
upon it. But it appears to him to be a parodox to express 
a holy horror and denounce pacific measures for the pro- 
tection of home industry, as anti-christian, but advocate 
w^ar and blood shed for protection^ redress, or for some 
other cause, as a pious act in accordance with the Divine 
precept quoted. 

The protection given to such articles as we can manu- 
facture from our own raw materials to any required extent, 
has cheapened them ; such is the fact, and a single excep- 
tion cannot be produced. The l^act, which has been ad- 
mitted by the opponents of pro ection, is nevertheless pro- 
nounced by them, an absurdity, and they try to trace the 
cause which produced the important fact, to some circum- 
stance unconnected with the tariff. The reaon is obvious 
upon the general principle which governs human nature. 
By the protection given to the domestic articles, our en- 
terprising people readily engage in their fabrication, cheer- 
ed and emulated by a prospect of supplying roost of the 
home market and consumption ; secured to a great extent 
against a competition with the pauper labor of Europe, 
their moral and manual powers are brought into united 



122 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

action. It raay be compared to the aid afforded to the 
soil, in its productive powers, by the application of ma- 
nure, lime, plaster, guano, and other stimulents. If then, 
silent and inanimate earth, requires the application of la- 
bor and science to quicken and increase its fruits; it is not 
wonderful that intelligent beings shoiild look to their own 
governmen, to present and secure to them advantages over 
the work-shops of foreign nations. Let us now look to 
the free trade policy; the opening of our ports to all na- 
tions, and the admissions of importations at low duties ; 
men of capital and enterprise are alarmed, their energies 
are paialised and they wont make investments; knowing 
that the vast amount of foreign articles, when sold, must 
supersede and throw out of market an equal amount of 
domestic articles. The price of all articles is regulated by- 
supply and demand; this will be admitted. The protec- 
tion, heretofore, given to our own mechanics and work- 
ing men, brought capital to the aid of industry and art, 
and so far from the prices being advanced, all domestic 
-articles have been furnished at from twenty-five to seven- 
ty-five per cent, below the prices of foreign or domestic 
articles, previous to the establishment of our factories, 
Avhich owe their existence to the protective system. Were 
it not for our factories, all fabrics of wearing apparel would 
be advanced from twenty-five to seventy- five per cent. ; 
(to what they were forty years ago), and many other arti- 
cles in like manner advanced in price ; and so far from 
our receiving an equivalent, our means to purchase w^ould 
be lessened, by the increase of agriculturers, who, by in- 
creasing the quantity of grain would lower the price. — 
Notwithstanding the good effects produced by the protec- 
tive policy, its opponents denounce our factories, as mo- 
nopolies, their ow^ners as lords of the furnace, loom and 
spindle ; silk-stocking arristocrats, with other expletives; 
and try to make the laboring man believe that he is pay- 
ing those silk-stocking arristocrats two or three hundred 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 123 

per cent, on his muslin shirt, which cost him ^ifip a yard. 

In the appropriate language of the Hon, Andrew Stew- 
art, "South Carolina and her Southern sisters would touch 
neither hammer nor shuttle. They sent away their money 
to New England, or old England. And what was the 
consequence of these two opposite systems? South Car- 
olina was poor and dependant, while New England was 
independent and prosperous. South Carolina, when the 
Federal Constitution was adopted, had five representa- 
tives. North Carolina five, and Virginia ten representa- 
tives on this floor. They all cherished a deadly hostility 
to every thing connected with manufactures, internal im- 
provements, and progress of every kind. They denied to 
this government the power of self-protection and self-im- 
provement; they went for the stand-still, lie-down, go-to- 
sleep, let-us-alone, do-nothing policy; they had tried to 
live on whip syllabub, political metaphysics, and consti- 
tional abstractions, until it had nearly starved them to 
death, while the Northern States had wisely pursued the 
opposite policy ; and what had been the effect on their 
relative prosperity? New York began with six representa- 
tives in that hall; now she has thirty-four. Pennsylva- 
nia began with eight, and now she has twenty-four. — 
Virginia, with North and South Carolina, had commenced 
with twenty representatives, and now they have altogeth- 
er, but thirty-one, and New York alone, has thirty-four." 

We have in Maryland many of those "go-to-sleep, do- 
nothing policy politicians;" but a majority of her citizens 
are in favor of the protective system, under which the 
Northern States have prospered. 

The writer has read with attention the Treasury Reports 
of Mr. Secretary Walker. In his last report, of the 9th 
of December, 1846, speaking of our trade with Gre?S Brit- 
ain, he says, ''Although our prosperity is ascribed by some 
to the famine there, as though Providence had made the 
advance on one country to depend upon the calamities of 



124 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

another, yet it is certain that our trade with Great Britain 
must be greater in a series of years, when prosperity would 
enable her to buy more from us, (and especially cotton) 
and at better prices, and sell us more in exchange, accom- 
panied by an augmentation of revenue." 

Famine is produced from a want of food, without 
which life cannot be sustained, and scarcity never fail 
to enhance prices ; these are facts which will be ac- 
knowledged by all men who are rational upon the sub- 
ject: ''all that a man hath will he give for his life," The 
principle plainly advanced by the Secretary, that Great 
Britain will purchase more of our grain and bread stuff 
when she has an abundance of both, than when pinched 
by hunger and famine, is an illustration and proof of the 
fact established in the highest legal tribunals in Europe 
and America, that some intelligent men have been insane 
on some points or subjects, though intelligent on all oth- 
ers. An important will case was recently tried in Wash- 
ington county court, in which it was decided that the tes- 
tator was insane on an important point, though rational 
and of sound disposmg mind on all others, and the will 
was nullified. It is, moreover, generally conceeded that 
an ex-Governor of Maryland is insane upon an important 
point; although endowed on all others, with a high order 
of intellectual faculties. These facts are stated for the 
purpose of protecting Mr. Walker from the imputation of 
intentionally trying to mislead and deceive the people ; 
but for which they would not have been refered to; msan- 
ity is a misfortune, deserving of the commiseration of all 
good men. 

Under the tariff of 1842, one hundred millions of duti- 
able imports paid about thirty-two millions of revenue; 
but tift tariff of '46 reduces the duties about one third be- 
low the former; consequently, it will require the importa- 
tion of one hundred and fifty millions to raise the same 
amount of revenue ; and thus require from foreign nations 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 125 

goods amounting annually to fifty millions or more, which 
would be furnished from our own factories and work-shops 
without reducing the amount of revenue, if the tariff of 
1842 had been adhered to. But it has been asserted that 
low duties on our part increases our exports, but the facts 
and figures in the reports of Mr. Walker and his prede- 
cessors, contradict the assertion. Foreign nations will 
take nothing from us upon the principle of courtesy but 
upon the governing principle of interest. 

Mr. Secretary Walker, proves that during the high 
tariffs of 1828, 1829, 1830 and 1831 a period of four 
years, we imported from Great Britain goods to the amount 
of $142,000,000 and exported to her, bread stuff, to the 
amount of $9,504,241 average import per year $35,500,- 
000, average export of bread suff, $2,376,050. Vv^e next 
take four year of low tariff under the compromise bill for 
the years '35, 6, 7, 8 our imports from Great Britain was 
$253,000,000 and our exports of bread stuff to Great Brit- 
ain was only $94,629. Average imports per year under 
low duties $63,250,000 and average export of bread stuff 
only $23,657. It ap})ears from official documents that 
during four years under the high tariff of 1828, we impor- 
ted but little more than half the amount of goods from 
Great Britain, and she took from us one hundred times 
more of our bread stuffs than she took under our lowest 
tariff. 

It was predicted by the advocates of the present tariff, 
that it would increase the price of raw cotton and reduce 
the price of cotton goods ; the prediction has not been re- 
realised. Mr. Walker admits that the price of cotton has 
decreased and such is the fact ; v>-hile some cotton goods 
have advanced in price ; and the reason is in accordance 
with the fact. 

The manufacturers anticipating large importations un- 
der the low duties, fabricated fewer of that quality most 
likc'v *-n c'^:'^e ^'^ "o^-np-^i-ion with the imo^^ried article. 



126 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

and such will always be the case under the low duty sys- 
tem. Mechanics and manufacturers could not live by 
their avocations if they could not sell their manufactured 
articles; this important fact connected with mechanism is 
understood by all mechanics, and they are more or less 
governed in the extent of their operations, by the good or 
bad prospects of a market for their productions. With 
agriculturers it is, to an important extent different ; for if 
they could not sell any of their surplus grain, meat and 
other things, the portions consumed by them in their fam- 
ilies would be properly disposed of; but mechanics and 
manufacturers could not literally eat any of the shoes, 
boots, hats, nails, clothing and other articles made by 
them. By encouraging our own mechanics and manufac- 
turers, they in return will support the farmers by affording 
them a home market. If we dispense with our mechanics 
and manufacturers, they must from necessity engage in 
agriculture, increase the productions of the earth and des- 
troy the home market. But say the astute opponents 
of protection, if all were engaged in agriculture it would 
would not lessen the number of mouths nor reduce the 
quantity of provisions necessary to feed them ; true gen- 
tlemen, your remark is logical and worthy of considera- 
tion ; if all were agricultural producers^ there would be no 
home market or purchasers among us; a proposition plain 
enough for a man of the most moderate comprehensions. 
In 1836, under a low tariff, we imported from Great 
Britain goods to the amount of eighty-six millions of dol- 
lars, and during that year she took from us breadstuffs to 
the amount of only one thousand six hundred and eighty- 
four dollars ; the next year we imported goods from her to 
the amount of $52,000,000, and she took from us bread 
stuffs to the amount of only $1,402, less than is annually 
consumed in one of the principle streets of Hagv^rstown. 
*'Thus it appears from official documents, that during four 
years of our high tariff — the tariff of 1828 — v/e took about 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 127 

half as many goods from Great Britain, and she took one 
one hundred times as much of our bread stuffs as she took 
during four years of our low tariff. Yet Mr. Walker re- 
peats over and over again, that our export of bread stuffs 
has always been greater under low tariffs than urjder high 
tariffs, and refers to Treasury tables to prove it! Has 
Mr. Walker looked at these reports? Does he know what 
they contain? He surely does not, or he never W'Ould 
have ventured upon such statements as these. Here it is 
seen that in 1836, we took 86,000,000 of dollars worth of 
goods from Great Britain, and she took $1,684: worth 
of bread stuffs from us in payment. Yet Mr. Walker says 
in his report of 1845, page 13, that we must take more 
English goods, otherwise the increased sura England will 
have to pay for our bread stuffs, w^e will not take in man- 
ufactures, but only in specie, and not having it to spare 
she brings down, even to a greater extent, our cotton.''— 
Eighty-six millions of British goods w^ill not pay for 1,684 
dollars worth of American bread stuffs, and the balance 
England will have to pay in ''specie, and not having it to 
spare," will bring down the price of our cotton? Is not 
this cool — it is wonderful? Perhaps Mr Walker, meant 
to have said, export of cotton, instead of "bread stuffs?" 
and it is more charitable and courteous to come to such a 
conclusion, or that he is insane on the tariff question, than 
that an American Secreretary of the Exchequer would at- 
tempt to deceive the people. The waiter docs not charge 
Mr. Walker of wnlful error or of unworihy motives ; bur. 
considers him insane on the tariff question. 

^ During favorable years for agricultural productions, all 
the nations of the earth, their colonies and provinces, make 
a sufBciency of bread stuffs, in connections with other ar- 
ticles of provisions, for their own consumption, with some 
exceptions, confined generally, to dense populations* — 
Old England would seldom import bread stuffs, were it 
not for her enormous navy and aruiies ; but would, in fa- 
vorable season, have a surplus. 



128 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Looking to the vast extent and fertility of the territory 
of the United States, the variety of soil and climate, adap- 
ted to the production of grain, grass, cotton, sugar and 
various other agricultural articles, and useful animals in 
superabundance ; inexhaustible beds of coal and mineral 
deposites, majestic rivers flowing from the interior through 
rich vallies in sublime grandeur, to the ocean, and with a 
current so gentle as to render navigation as safe and easy- 
above as belov^ the head of tide water; whilst their tribu- 
taries rising in the high lands, increasing their body of wa- 
ter as they descend to the great streams in the low lands, 
affording sites for machinery to any required extent, the 
writer is solemnly impressed with a belief that a variety 
of avocational pursuits and a relative distribution of labor, 
art and science are required to reach the extent of the 
blessings in reserve, which are presented to the eye and 
the mind. These earthly treasures presented in a state 
nature, do not require foreign manufactures, from the 
same kind of raw materials, to enable us to manufacture 
them from our own inexhaustible m.ines and other raw^ 
materials. But to the contrary it is the duty of govovern- 
ment to shape its measure with a view to invite and re- 
w^ard the hand of labor and art ; create a demand for the 
laboring man and industrious woman, to increase produe- 
tiQnSy agricultural and mechanical, and to augment as far as 
practical our exports above our imports. The wages of 
the ^'toiling millions," and the price of bread stuffs and 
provisions of all kinds, together with clothing and articles 
of trade should bear as near relctive proportions to each 
other as practical; to produce such an effect should be 
a primary object vrith our rulers, and all who advocate 
good government and a wholesome st.ite of society. A 
policy which would reduce the price of the articles which 
the laboring man must buy; and at the same time reduce, 
to a greater extent, the wjges of his labor^ would have a 
witheringr effect. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 129 

ThB certain tendency of a protective and discriminating 
tariff, is to check extravagant foreign importations of such 
?irti<jles as we can make to any required amount; encour- 
age the building of factories and work-shops; increase a 
demand for all classes of mechanics, and laborers, men, 
women and children, and good wages follow as a natural 
consequence and here we see the connection between 
cause and effext. The opposite policy, low duties, no 
protection and excessive importations, cannot fail to pro^ 
duce a direcily opposite state of affairs by discouraging 
enterprise and industry, and here, again, the link which 
unites cause with effect is plain to the intelligent and un- 
biased mind ; it is irresistable, as true as the principles of 
arithmetic, which should be applied in drafting a tariff bill. 

The exotic policy of the general government has not 
acted as promptly on the laboring classes and business of 
our country, as the cholera acts upon its victims ; the fam- 
ine in Ireland, and scarcity of breadstuffs and provisions 
in other portions of Europe, which followed soon after its 
adoption, gave it the character of a pulmonic disease, and 
may require another year to prostrate its victims. Its evil 
tendency will as certainly be realized as it is certain that 
the principles of arithmetic are true ; unless our govern- 
ment should, in the language of Gen. Jackson in his let- 
ter to Doctor Coleman, became more Americanized. — - 
Whilst it is not to be supposed that a tariff bill could be 
framed so as not to require occasional modifications in 
some of its details, yet to promote the prosperity of our 
country, and especially the working classes, the protec- 
tive principle should be incorporated. If the horrors of 
famine should ever extend throughout our country, ihe re- 
peal of the twenty per cent, duty on imported grain and 
bread stuffs, would, in effect ^ he protective. Consequent- 
ly a tariff should be so framed as to suit the times and 
situation of the country. A tariff suited to one nation, 
might not be applicable to another differently situated. 
r 



iSd POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

A country densely populated, and extensively manu- 
facturing, seeking, begging and forcing a raarket in every 
inhabited section of the globe, and possessing a small 
portion of the raw materials of which her manufactured 
articles are made ; would find it to her interest to admit 
such raw materials as she does not possess at a lew duty, 
and would admit them free, rather than do without them, 
for the protection of her factories ; such is the situation of 
Old England and she admits our cotton at a low duty. — - 
But how different is our situation ; we possess raw mate- 
rials for manufactured articles of almost every kind, suffi- 
cient to supply the world for an indefinite period ; and 
possess the means to become the greatest manufacturing, 
independent, prosperous and happy nation upon the globe. 
But we must first become more Americanized, by electins^ 
statesmen whose measures will be favorable to manual la- 
bor and the development of our great national resources : 
the remedy is with the people. 

As a general principle in moral and physical nature, if 
we were to render ourselves dependent upon foreign na- 
tions for the entire supply of such articles as we could 
make from our own raw materials to any required amount^, 
foreigners would regulate supplies and demands, and we 
would be subjected to high prices. But a protective duty 
would give a wholesome impulse to enterprise and indus- 
try ; factories would spring up, and home competition 
would reduce the price to a small profit on the caf»ital and 
labor employed in the factories and work- shops ; the more 
we manufacture, the more independent will we be, and 
men, women, and children obtain employment. Then re- 
duce the duties to a low point, and large importations 
w^ould flow in, and the immediate effect would be a fur- 
ther reduction of prices, which, however, would be of 
short duration; our factories would, one after another, be 
closed, the operators would be discharged, in consequence 
of the great influx of foreign articles lessening the demand 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 131 

and sale of the domestic, and the prices would then rise ; 
here again we see the connection between cause and effect^ 
and the necessity of proper checks to foreign importation, 
for the encouragement of our own citizens. The leading- 
principles of human nature, in their application to nation- 
al policy, can be condensed into a short catechism. What 
is the policy and object of nations? Answer: To accumu- 
late wealth, gain power and permanent independence. 

The writer trusts that what he has written upon this 
important subject, will be read without prejudice and close- 
ly scrutinized, and if he has committed any errors, their 
correction would be to him a source of gratification. He 
is not aware that any person could be benefited by error 
upon any subject whatever, and no one could be more 
without any motive or object to mislead, than the WTiter. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PUBLIC LANDS. 

A portion of our statesmen say that the proceeds of the 
Sales of the Public Lands, subsequent to the liquidation 
of the national debt, should be distributed among the 
States, in proportion to population, or upon some equita- 
ble principle. Another portion assert that such a distri- 
bution would be inexpedient and unjust; and some go so 
far as to say that it would be unconstitutional. The wri- 
ter has reference, only to the waste lands wrested from 
Great Britain in the war of the Revolution, and ceded by 
the States to the Confederacy, upon the terms and condi- 
tions which will be hereafter steicd. No reference is made 
to the purchase of Louisi ma and Florida, the annexation 



132 ' POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

of Texas or the purchase of New Mexico and Upper Cal- 
ifornia, under the late treaty with Mexico. If the ques- 
tion was decided, (without regard to party politics) upon 
the principle of law and justice, as decided between in- 
dividuals, the decision would, in the opinion of the writer, 
be in favor of distribution among the States. But as a 
party question it is not probable that it ever will be impar- 
tially discussed by politicians. If the constitution had ex- 
pressly declared that after the debt of the Revolution was 
liquidated, the proceeds of the undisposed public domain, 
after paying the expenses of surveys and other necessary 
charges &c. &c., should be distributed upon equitable 
principles; it is not conceivable that an intelligent man 
would object to it. If it be said that as there is no such 
clause,the distribution would be unconstitutional; it would 
conclusively follow upon the same principle, that the pur- 
chase of Louisiana and Florida were unconstitutional, as 
neither of them is named or referred to in it. But on re- 
ferring to the original transfers, it will appear that the 
meaning and intent was, that after the debt of the Revo- 
lution was paid, the unsold land, if any remamed, should 
revert to the States, and no other conclusion can be drawn 
by an intelligent and unprejudiced mind. 

It is worthy of consideration in the discussion of this 
and every important question, whether it would not be 
better to have no constitution, and trust to the wisdom of 
the people through their representatives, than to con- 
fine ovrselves to the literal words of the instrument, which 
is not as long as a President's message of modern date, 
and partly written in generalities; either extreme would 
be injurious. It is definite in relation to elections, the 
term of service of those elected, appointment of the prin- 
cipal officers, gives Congress the power to declare war, 
raise and support armies, and a navy ; and to the Senate, 
the treaty making power, and is equally definite upon 
some other subjects, not all; its letter and spirit is the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 133 

general good ; it clothes the representatives of the people 
with power to do good or evil : and we are perhaps, as 
dependant upon the intelligence and virtue of our repre- 
sentatives and officers of government, for a faithful adhe- 
rence to the spirit of the constitution, as to words written 
upon paper or parchment. Should our federal represent- 
atives and officers of government become corrupt or un- 
justly ambitious, they might, without violating the letter 
of the constitution, declare war against an unoffending 
nation, or for light cause, and the act could not be recall- 
ed, or peace restored except by negotiation and treaty, or 
by conquest. It is scarcely presumable, however, that 
Congress will ever declare war against any nation, until 
after reason and remonstrance shall have failed to obtain 
a redress of grievances. 

The writer will first examine the subject without regard 
to party politics or the indebted States; both beingforeign 
t-o the question, so far as law and equity are concerned. 

The thirteen original States were in existence and in- 
dependent before the federal constitution and government 
uuder it were in operation; the former are the parents, and 
the latter the offspring; the parents are still living and en- 
titled to their reserved rights. The old folks, i. e. the 
original thirteen, united at maturity in political matrim.ony, 
patriotism, and valor, contracted a large debt during the 
glorious and successful revolution. To liquidate which, 
and for the benefit of said states and others which might 
be admitted into the confederacy, and ''for no other pur- 
pose whatever," as appears from the transfers which will 
be copied, the public lands were mortgaged. It is con- 
tended by some that the general government requires the 
proceeds of the public domain, to carry on its operations. 
This is upon the principle of an individual requiring and 
annually appropriating to his own use, a portion of his 
neighbors property. Economy on the part of nations and 
individuals, generally spring from limited means, not from 



134 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

profusion. Comparatively few individuals in possession 

of great wealth, study the piinciples of economy and sub- 
stantial comfort ; and the same may be said of nations. 
If great wealth is concentrated in the government, it has 
a tendency to create prodigality; and in proportion as it 
is drawn from the mass of the people, it paralyses their en- 
ergies; gives the government a power over them, at va- 
riance with liberty; enables the few to control the many 
without adding to the physical or moral strength of the 
nation, or to the comfort and happiness of the mass 
of the people in their individual character. The physi- 
cal and moral strength of a nation, depends more upon 
the number and character of its inhabitants than upon its 
treasure ; proof of which was given during the Revolution. 
The more equally the wealth of a nation is distributed 
among the people, the greater will be their comfort, gen- 
eral prosperity and soundness of morals. 

It is asserted, moreover,by the opponents of distribution 
that it would not benefit the states, because say they, the 
amount which would be withheld from the federal govern- 
ment by the distribution, would be added to the duties 
on importations ; and that the consumers pay all the du- 
ties and the producers none, therefore nothing would be 
effected but a change in the mode of collecting a portion 
of the revenue. As the oft repeated declaration that the 
consumers pay all the duties and the producers none, has 
been considered in another part of this w^ork it will not be 
treated on in this chapter ; but the writer will, for argu- 
ment sake, admit it, and how then stands the claim? If 
the States have a just right to the land claimed, the tariff 
question cannot effect the legal and equitable principle in 
the case ; and the federal government could not be depriv- 
ed of revenue by the distribution, as it has sufficient means 
without the aid of the land claimed as the property of the 
Statas. What would be said of a verdict of a jury in a 
land case to the following effect, that Peter Plaintiff had 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 135 

made out a legal, just and equitable title to a tract of land 
in the possession of Daniel Defendant^ but that if they 
restored the lands to the rightful owner it might not be of 
substantial benefit to him, and to deprive the defendant of 
pioperty he unjustly withheld from his neighbor, would be 
a great loss to the former? The answer is submitted to the 
intelligent reader. The true question is, have the States 
a just claim to the land claimed? and it is worthy of serious 
consideration. 

The constitutional objection to distribution has nearly 
vanished ; and now, after the various votes and discus- 
sions in Congress, in w^hich the principle of distribution 
was directly and indirectly involved and its constitutional- 
ity conceeded, it is not probable that a constitutional ob- 
jection will be again raised by any considerable number 
of statesmen. 

The writer might rest the claim of the States to the pro- 
ceeds of the public lands upon the benefits the federal gov- 
ernment has received, and will continue to receive from 
internal improvements by the States, as eloquently and im- 
pressively stated by Gen. Jackson in his third annual 
message, and quoted in this book page 102. The reader 
IS requested to turn to the page referred to, and read the 
extract in connection with the foregoing. The writer 
need not rely, wholly, upon the sensible language of 
President Jackson to support the claim of the States to 
the property in dispute ; he appeals to the understanding 
of all candid and unprejudiced men in support of the claim 
upon the principles of justice, reciprocity and good neigh- 
borship. If it be said that those 'huorks of internal im- 
provements^'' w^hich in the language of President Jackson, 
are of so much importance to the government as to '^re- 
move an apprehension sometimes entertained, that the 
great extent of the Union would endanger its permanent 
existence were the Yoluntary acts of the States," it may 
be truly ssiid ia answer ; that the federal government deriv- 



136 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 

ed its existence from the voluntary acts of the States, as 
certainly so as an infant derived its existence from its pa- 
rents. The general government is the legitimate offspring 
of ihe parent States ; and the former hy the aid of the lat- 
ter, has grown into manhood ; and to withhold the pro- 
ceeds of the public domain from the States, under exist- 
ing circumstances, is an inexcusable departure from pa- 
rental affection. Oh ingratitude ! ingratitude ! I The 
federal government is daily receiving support from the 
States, and is not so distinct from them, as to be freed 
from all reciprocal obligations ; both should be considered 
with reference to their relative positions : the ties of affin- 
ity by which they are connected and which cannot be 
dissolved without endangerment to the independence and 
happiness of our national family. Neither the federal or 
state governments are, in the opinion of the writer, sove- 
reign. We frequently hear the w^ord sovereign, applied 
to a state and to the federal government ; it wall do in 
common conversation ; but it is unfounded in fact, Each 
is sovereign so far only as its acts accord with the confed- 
eracy ; the federal constitution and that of each State are 
interwoven and connected with each other, and are happi- 
ly deprived of absolute sovereignty ; and happy will it he 
for posterity if they should ever continue dependent on 
each other ; and checks and balances preserve an equilib- 
rium. 

The writer will now examine the terms upon which the 
parent States granted the public domain to the federal 
government ; and will first acknowledge the obligations 
he is under to the Hon. William Cost Johnson for official 
documents furnished him. Mr. Johnson is one of Old 
Maryland's most enlightened and practical statesmen, a 
son which Maryland may well be proud of, and it will not 
be surprising if he should reach some of the highest offi- 
ces in the government, talented and laborious in documen- 
tal and historical research ; patient in investigating prin^ 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 137 

ciples, plain and accurate in his conclusions, he already 
ranks with the ablest statesmen of his age in the nation. 

On the Is: of February, 1779, Delaware signed the ar- 
ticles ; but her act of cession was accompanied with the 
following resolutions : 

"-Resolved^ That this State think it necessary, for the 
peace and safety of the State, to be included in the Union; 
that a moderate extent of limits should be assigned for 
such of those States as claim to the Mississippi or South 
sea ; and that the United States in Congress assembled 
should and ought to have the power of fixing their Western 
limits. 

'' Resolved, also, That this State consider themselves 
justly entitled to a right in common with the members of 
the tJnion, to that extensive tract of country which lies to 
the westward of the frontier of the United States, the 
property of which was not vested in, or granted to, indi- 
viduals at the commencement of the war ; that the same 
hath been or may be gained from the King of Great Brit- 
ain, or the native Indians, by the blood and treasure of all, 
and ought therefore to be a common estate, to be granted 
out on terms beneficial to the United States." 

In February 1780 New York by her Legislature passed 
an act ''to facilitate the completion of the articles of con- 
federation and perpetual union among the Uuited States 
of America. This act declared that the territory which 
she ceded "should be and enure for the use and benefit 
of such of the United States as should become members of 
the federal alliance of the said States, and for no other use 
or purpose whatsoever." 

The reader will bear in mind that those proceedings 
passed during the heat of the revolution, and before Great 
Britain lost hopes of retaining the American colonies. — 
What strong proof is afforded by them, of the chivalrous 
spirit of our forefathers? and their views of the equalrightof 
all the States to the public lands. It should be borne innaind 



138 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

also, that some of the States had not signed the articles of 
confederation, in consequence of the land question not be- 
ing settled. Maryland did not sign the articles of confed- 
eration until 1st of March 1781, although her attachment 
and unwavering support of the colonies, was proven by il- 
lustrious deeds of chivalry and the blood of many of her 
sons was shed, protesting, however, and justly too at the 
same time, against any inference being drawn that she had, 
by so doing, relinquished her claim to a participation in 
the Western lands ; but assigning as her reasons, that,'^ 

''Whereas it has been said that the common enemy 
is encouraged, by this State not acceding to the confed- 
eration, to hope that the Union of the sister States may 
be dissolved, and therefore prosecute the war in expecta- 
tion of an event so disgraceful to America ; and our friends 
and illustrious ally are impressed with an idea that ihe com- 
mon cause would be promoted by our formally acceding to 
the confederation ; this General ilssembly, conscious that 
this State hath from the commencement of the war strenu- 
ously exerted herself in the common cause, and fully sat- 
isfied that if no formal confederation was to take place, it 
is the fixed determination of this State to continue her ex- 
ertions to the uttermost, agreeably to the faith pledged in 
the Union ; from an earnest desire to conciliate the affec- 
tion of the sister States, to convince the world of our un- 
alterable resolution to support the independence of the U- 
nited States, and the alliance with his Most Christian 
Majesty, and to destroy forever any apprehensions of our 
friends, or hopes of our enemies, of this State being again 
joined to Great Britain. » 

In 1821 the Legislature of Maryland passed the follow- 
ing resolutions : 

'^ Resolved hy the General Assembly of Maryland^ 
That each of the United States has an equal right to par- 
ticipate in the benefit of the public lands, the common 
property of the Union, 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 139 

^^Resolved, That the States in whose favor Congress 
have not made appropriations of land for the purpose of 
education are entitled to such appropriations as will cor 
respond, in a just proportion, with those heretofore 
made in favor of the other States." 

Another resolution was passed, inviting the attention of 
the Legislatures of the several States to the subject, and 
also their Representatives in Congress. 

These resolutions were accompanied by a report from 
Mr. Maxcy to the Senate of Maryland, which, for the clear 
irresistible reasoning, and enlightened policy, is second 
to no report that has ever been made on the subject. If 
the report of Mr. Clay (I mean the American statesman) 
on the subject of the Western lands should be decided as 
more able, it would be for the reason Plato decided that 
one of Demosthenes's orations was better than the rest, 
^'because it was the longest." 

The foregoing breathes the spirit of Patriotism which 
characterised Maryland during the moral and physical 
struggle which tried men's souls. In thus speaking, the 
Writer disclaims any intention to disparage any of the sis- 
ter States. Such an attempt would be as ungenerous as 
it would be unjust. If any State rendered more service 
than another in the holy war, it was because its local situ- 
ation, cities and resources invited the attacks of the com- 
mon enemy in a greater degree, and the valor and skill of 
the patriots were displayed in proportion to the force of 
the enemy. The patriots were a unit in mind and milita- 
ry prowess — they united their moral and physical powers 
for the common cause, and proved themselves Solomons 
in council and Samsons in the field of battle. The writer 
will continue his documental and historical research, 
though he would rather compose than copy ; but he must 
give his authority for setting up a claim to the public lands 
by reciting like that of a scrivener, who in drawing a deed 
would refer to the authority upon which the conveyance 
was granted. 



140 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

"Great Britain, by the treaty of peace in 1783, re- 
linquished to the United States all claim to the govern- 
ment property and territorial rights of the same and every 
part thereof. '^ 

"To the relmquishment of what property and territorial 
right, did this treaty allude to, if it was not the Crown 
lands, (for all the vacant unsold land was claimed as such) 
if it was not those lands situated wdthin the limits of the 
charters of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia ; the 
charters of a!l of which extended westwardly to the South 
sea or the Pacific ocean? New York had an indefinite 
claim to a part of the North Western territory." 

The treaty of peace w^ith Great Britain w^as about four 
years before the federal constitution was written, and still 
longer before its adoption by the States. Consequently 
the public lands were conveyed to the United States — not 
to the Government of the United States as now org:anized: 
but upon the principle of the Will of an individual who 
devised his land equally to all his children, and by which 
they could hold it jointly or divide it. What say you read- 
er? On reference to the constitution, the writer cannot 
perceive that it interferes wuth or nullifies the claim of the 
heirs i. e. the States; except that the national debt, which 
had, by consent, the effect of a mortgage should first be 
paid. Justice required that the debt should be liquidated 
before the land passed to the rightful heirs, in reversion 
which w^as willingly conceded by them. And although 
a large portion of their real estate has been sold, a great 
quantity remains undisposed, and to which they have a 
reversinary right in law and equity. 

''Georgia, in 1802, relinquished to the United States 
her Western lands, comprising now the entire States of 
Mississippi and Alabama, excepting the southern portions 
of the same, which, with East Florida were purchased of 
Spain by the United States in 1819, for five millions of 
dollars. The articles of agreement and cession between 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 141 

the United States and Georgia explicitly declare that all 
the lands ceded by this agreement to the United States 
shall, after satisfying the above mentioned payment of one 
million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the State 
of Georgia, and the grants recognized by the preceding 
conditions, be considered a common fund for the use and 
benefit of the United States, Georgia included, and shall be 
faithfully disposed of for that purpose, and for no other 
use or purpose whatever." 

^'The cession on the part Virginia, which may be con- 
sidered as the most important, from the magnitude of the 
territory comprehended within the grant after specifying 
certain conditions, requiring among other things, the Uni- 
ted States to reimburse the expenses which Virginia had 
incurred in defending the territory explicitly states that 
the lands ceded shall be considered as a common fund for 
the use and benefit of such of the United States as have 
become, or shall become members of the confederation or 
federal alliance of the said States, Virginia inclusive, ac- 
cording to their usual respective proportion in the general 
charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona 
fide, disposed of for that purpose, and no other use or pur- 
pose whatsoever. 

The articles of cession were evidently written by men 
learned in the law, and in strict reference to securing the 
revisionary rights to the States after the national mort- 
gages were liquidated. A chancery lawyer in writing a 
Declaration in an important suit, would not, could not, be 
more technically minute and definite. If it be asked why 
the claim of reversion was not sooner asserted? the answer 
is easy. The states could not justly ,ask deeds relinquish- 
ing the mortgages, until the debts for which they were 
executed, were fully paid off, together with interest and 
all legal and reasonable charges ; and, now the conditions 
being fully complied with, in good faith, the federal gov- 
ernment cannot justly withhold from the States, their re- 



142 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

versionary right to all the public domain which remains 
unsold. The just and equitable claim of the States was, 
however, asserted, immediately after the incumberances 
on the property were removed. If an individual brought 
suit for a claim of old standing, stating ihat he did not 
until recently, know that he had a legal and equitable 
right to the property claimed ; such a declaration could 
not effect the merit of the case; and if the act of limit- 
ation did not apply he could recover, if he made out a 
fair, legal, and equitable claim. Against the present 
claim, the act of limitation cannot be plead by the fed- 
eral government — the claim of the States is for land, 
and twenty years has not elapsed since the States had a 
right to present their claims; and some of them did 
promptly assert their reversionary rights immediately after 
the lands were freed from incumberances. But the wri- 
ter will not presume that the general government, would 
plead the act of limitation, even if it could be sustained. 
The reader is now requested to carefully examine the 
following statistical table, compiled from official docu- 
ments: — 

Estimate of the direct pecuniary benefit accruing from the 
Public Lands and the cost of their management to the 
30th September, 1840. 

By am't paid by the purchase of the public 
lands, including U. States stock and land 
scrips of every description, exclusive of 
the purchase money of lands sold for the 
benefit of the Indians $120,148,085 

By am't of interest on the payments into the 
Treasury from the proceeds of the sales of 
the public lands 62,850,520 

By value at $1 25 of the lands granted to the 
States for school purposes, roads, canals, 
&c. 12,700,000 acres 15,875,000 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 143 

By value at $1 25 of the lands granted in 
lieu of money as bounties to the soldiers 
of the Revolutionary and late wars, 9,- 
750,000 acres 12,187,500 

By value at $1 25 of the "donations to indi- 
viduals exclusive of private claims," to 
31st Dec, 1831, and exclusive of grants 
to the deaf and dumb, being 224,558 acres 280,697 



To the credit of the public lands 211,341,802 

To amount paid under the convention with France of 3d 
of April, 1803: 

For the purchase of 
Louisianain mon- 
ey and stocks $15,000,000 

To am'tpaid as inter- 
est on the stock up 
to the time it be- 
came redeemable 8,529,353 



To am't paid for the 
purchase of Flor- 
ida underthe trea- 
ty with Spain of 
the 22d of Febru- 
ary, 1819 5,000,000 

To amtpaid as inter- 
est on the stock 
constituted by act 
of24thMay,l824, 
to meet awards un-. 
der said treaty up 
to the time it was 
paid off 1,489,768 



-$23,529,353 



6/489,768 



144 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

To am't paid to the State of Geor- 
gia in money and arms 1,250,000 

To am't of Yazoo claims under 

act of 3d of March, 1815 4,282,151 

To am't of salaries and contingent 
expenses of the General Land 
Office to the 30ih Sep., 1840 1,379,520 

To am't of salaries and incidental 
expenses of the land offices 
paid out of ihe proceeds of the 
public lands while in the hands 
of the receivers lo 30th Sep- 
tember, 1840 3,611,093 

To am't of salaries of registers 
and receivers paid by warrants 
on the Treasurer of the Uniied 
States 96,562 

To am't of salaries of the survey- 
ors general and their clerks 923,302 

To am't paid for surveying the 

lands which have been sold 1,490,950 

To am't of 2, 3, and 5 per cent, 
funds from the periods when 
they first accrued 4,599,913 

To am't of compensation made to 

Indians for the public lands 21,669,524 



69,323,036 



Balance lo the credit of the public lands 142,018,766 

More than one hundred and forty two millions of dol- 
lars to the net credit of the States. President Jackson in 
his sixth annual message of 2d Dec, 1834, announced 
that on the first of the following month, the last item of 
our public debt would be paid off and a surplus in the 
Treasury, after discharging all claims upon it, of nearly 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 145 

a million. Upon what principle then can the federal gov-" 
ernment claim the public lands? If it be said that th€ 
national debt of the Revolution, added to that created by 
the last war (1812) would make a greater aggregate than 
the amount which stands to the credit of the States ; it 
could not give Congress a shadow of right to any further 
claim upon the public domain. Because the States, from 
which the federal government originated, are justly entitled 
to a participation in the revenue received from importa- 
tions ; in aid of which the public lands were mortgaged. 
The writer is no lawyer, but it appears to him that the ces- 
sion of the public lands to the federal government rests 
upon the legal and equitable principle of a mortgage given 
by One individual to another for securing the payment of a 
debt, and upon such terms and conditions as specified in 
the indenture. Now the following questions present them- 
selves; was the public lands sold to the federal government 
by a general warrantee deed? Did the States, ^^grant, 
bargain and sell, alien, enfeoff, release, convey and confirm 
unto the United States, the said described tracts or parcels 
of land forever, &c., &c. Or did the said Slates convey 
them in trust? these questions are imporiant andindispen- 
sible in the trial of this great land case, and its decision 
would not be very long delayed if party politics did not in- 
terfere. If an individual could set up and make out as 
fair a claim lo a farm in the possession of another person 
as the Siaies have to the public domain he would gain it 
by the verdict of an intelligent and disinterested jury or in 
a court of equity. The magnitude of the claim cannot ef- 
fect the equity of the case ; and the States possess the 
power of enforcing their right by moral and constitutional 
means ; and should a discussion arise between the federal 
and Sta'e governments as to which is ihe most competent 
to manage the proceeds of the public lands, it would be 
foreign to the subject: it is a question of right not of com- 
petency. 



146 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 

Self interest has a powerful influence upon the actions 
and views of nations and individuals, and both are govern- 
ed by motives ; without which the moral and physical 
powers of nations and individuals would be inactive and 
unproductive. Nations and individuals contending for 
their natural or acquired rights act from interested motives. 
A is interested in calling upon, and urging B to the payment 
of a just debt. Nations and individuals, acting from in- 
terested motives may act right or wrong, because a claim 
prosecuted from motives of interest, as every claim must 
be, does not, upon abstract principles, prove the demand 
to be just or unjust ; these are important points to be set- 
tled upon the merit or demerit — the law and evidence pro 
and con in the case. Every honest man is influenced and 
urged to a degree proportioned to his industry, enterprise 
and talents, by interested motives ; so is the wreckless 
thief ; but their interested motives are of a very different 
character. 

Every honest man has a view to his interest in all his bus- 
iness transactions— there is not nor cannot be an exception ; 
and so far as interested motives are founded upon, and 
carried out on the principles of justice and fair dealing they 
are laudable and praiseworthy in the highest moral sense 
of the terms. The thief is prompted and governed by in- 
terested motives in every theft he commits, and upon the 
only principles of self-interest, which being unsupported 
by justice and fair-dealing he acts morally and legally 
wrong. The writer will repeat what he said in the first 
chapter of this w^ork. ^'Man is more or less governed in his 
transactions, moral and physical, by his Will or his judg- 
ment. If these two principles come in opposition to each 
othe:', he can never act morally wrong by being governed 
by his judgment, and never in such a contest can he act 
right if governed by his Will." The will of man, is more 
likely to incline him too strongly tc his interest, than is 
his judgment which is the safest pilot and most orthodox 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 147 

teacher. By the term judgment the writer means to in- 
clude all those mental faculties which God -bestowed upon 
man to enable him to discriminate between right and wrong, 
preservation and destruction— the reasoning faculty — the 
quality of distinguishing between propriety and impropri- 
ety. Distribution of justice. And as far as possible to 
render judgment and justice, synonymous terms. Man's 
judgment may be, and doubtless is often, wrong, but 
in the sense in which the writer uses the term it is the 
surest and safest guide which God has given him ; and 
no man can act morally wrong, by following the dictate? 
of his judgment in the sense referred to and here treated 
upon. The honest Christian, whether Catholic or Protes« 
tant, exercises his judgment with an eye to his spiritual 
and temporal interest, the same will apply (o the honest 
Jew. Were it not for judgment, in the sense in which 
the writer now uses it, a man would as willingly step oif 
of the top of a three story house as to step out of the low- 
er door of his dwelling. If then as is self-evident, such 
awful consequences would ensue if we were deprived of 
our judgment, how strong must be the moral obligation 
to apply it in all our moral and physical actions, to follow 
it in its pointings, bearings and applications as the mari- 
ner does the compass. 

The writer having examined the question upon the 
principle of law in its application to the articles of ces- 
sion, he will next consider it with reference to policy, and 
the moral obligation on the part of the federal government 
to relinguish its claim upon the public lands to the State 
governments , and will also consider the conflicting views 
of party and sectional politicians upon the subject. 

If an individual is in debt, he stands in need of helpj 
and it is his duty as an honest man, to use all legal and 
fair means within his reach to extricate himself from his 
liabilities ; and the same moral obligation will apply to 
States and Nations with equal force. The writer has of- 
ten heard individuals speak of the direct tax, growing 



148 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

out of internal improvements, as not only inconvenient but 
onerous ; — that the annual taxes exceeds the profits and 
advantages derived from them ; but he never heaid an in- 
dividual assert that the general government was not bene- 
fitted and strengthened by these works. The convenient 
and rapid intercourse between the central, commercial and 
remote settlements of our extensive territory has in effect 
almost annihilated space and rendered all the inhabitants 
neighbors for all practical and useful purposes. The 
States of Maine and Georgia have become neighbors and 
to pass from one to the other is only a change of air and 
position effected in afew^hours travel without fatigue and 
at little expense ; — the same may be said of all others in 
our confederated galaxy of States. Will it then be 
said that the federal government has not been benefitted 
by the money and labor of the States? Will party ambi- 
tion triumph over the claims of the States founded in rea- 
son and justice, growing out of the compact? Cannot the 
States hold a separate and definite right to the public, or 
ungranted lands, without endangering or weakening the 
federal government in any of its necessary and constitution- 
al powersr On the other hand would not the existence of 
the federal government be rendered more secure, and the 
attachment of the people to it, strengthened by the sur- 
render of the ungranted lands to the States? 

President Jackson in his fourth annual message used 
this language. ''It seems to me to be our true policy 
that the public lands shall cease, as soon as practicable, to 
be a source of revenue, and that they be sold to settlers in 
limited parcels, at a price barely sufficient to reimburse to 
the United States the expense of the system, and the cost 
arising under our Indian compacts. The advantages of 
accurate surveys and undoubted titles, now secured to 
purchasers, seem to forbid the abolition of the present 
system, because none can be substituted which will more 
perfectly accomplish these important ends. It is desirable 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 149 

however, that in convenient time this machinery be with- 
drawn from the States, and that the right of soil and the 
future disposition of it, be surrendered to the States, res- 
pectively, in which it lies." The foregoing recommen- 
dation that the public lands ^'shall cease to be a source of 
revenue" is at variance with the declarations of those who 
assert that it would be unjust to cede the public domain 
to the States, on the ground that the general go^^ernment 
requires the proceeds in connection w^ith the revenue de 
rived from imports, to continue its operations. The propo- 
sition, however, met with but little favor in Congress. — 
The writer does not question the motives of the President 
who was, doubtless influenced by kind feeling ; but the 
generosity which was proposed to be performed by the 
general government, was to be at the expense of the 
States, the rightful owners An individual would not be 
deserving of any credit for acts of generosity at the ex- 
pense of his neighbor. Nor w^ould such a disposal of the 
public lands, in the opinion of the writer, be just, or pro- 
ductive of general good, or individual comfort. The con- 
sequences of such a system would be to create a rush for 
the public lands by persons who would destroy the timber, 
exhaust the soil, then abandon their lands and go further 
into the forest, and like the locusts in Egypt, mark their 
course by wide spread desolation. In fixing a price on 
the public lands, in connection with a just, w^holesome 
and beneficial regard to the ability of the industrious poor 
to possess them ; the price should be so regulated as to af- 
ford as little temptation as practicable to men of a large 
capital, to purchase at public sales or make large entries 
at the minimum prices with a view of selling upon specu* 
lation. 

The industrious laboring classes, w^hetherrich or poor, 
aie the pillars and principle supporters of our political in- 
stitutions ; the producer of food and raiment, and of all 
substantives formed by human hands, and are worthy of 



150 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

first consideration in connection with National or State 
policy. It is said by some, that the great quantity of un- 
sold land proves the price to be too high. With as much 
propriety, it might be said, that the vast unsettled portions 
of our Union, and of the Globe, proves that the ordinary 
course of generation is not sufficiently prolific — that the 
Creator should have given the human race, the power of 
increasing their species, as rapidly as the fish of the great 
deep. 

If the price of the public lands were reduced to twenty- 
five cents per acre, it would not increase the ordinary 
course of generation, nor would such increase be desirable. 
It would be difficult, if not impossible to prove, that such 
a reduction in the price of the public lands as was recom- 
mended, by President Jackson, would be beneficial to the 
laboring poor generally. The price of labor, professional 
avocational, and all articles and things from land down to 
a leather button, should bear relative proportions. Ine- 
quality in the price of labor and services rendered, and in 
the prices of articles and things, has a withering effect in 
a physical and moral point of view ; and is one of the 
great leading causes of the inequality in the condition 
of the human race. If wages, and the price of all articles 
and things, approached near to an equilibrium, there would 
be less misery, more comfort, and a better state of mor- 
als. The price of the public domain might be fixed too 
high or too low ; and either extreme would be injurious to 
the laboring class. It is worthy of consideration, whether 
it would not be beneficial to those who are wholly depen- 
dent upon their labor, to raise the minimum price of land 
to two dollars per acre. Speculators purchase at the pub- 
lic sales, large quantities, at prices between $1 25, and 
two dollars per acre, and then sell at an advance. The 
public sales are attended by comparatively few persons^ 
all of whom, with scarcely an exception, are speculators. 
Nat one man out of a hundred^ who can only raise from^ 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 151 

a hundred to five hundred dollars, ever attends a public 
sale, because he could have no certainty of getting the 
section or fraction which he might have selected, and 
would not like to buy land which he had not seen. The 
result is, that almost every man who purchases a small 
portion of unimproved land for immediate settlement, pays 
more than two dollars an acre for it, whilst the govern- 
ment receives but one dollar and twenty-five cents. After 
the public sales are closed, speculators, from time to time, 
enter large quantities at the present minimum price, and 
sell at an advance to small purchasers, the policy of the 
government and the minimum price of the public domain, 
should be such as to hold out as few inducements to spec- 
ulators to purchase as human wisdom can devise, having 
in view at the same time a sacred regard for those who 
from their small earnings and hard labor can only raise 
small sums of money — save them, if practicable, from 
speculators and afford them land at fair prices. This sub- 
ject has long exercised the mind of the writer, who has 
reflected upon it, with direct reference to the interest of 
small purchasers, and from all the information he has col- 
lected, has arrived at the conclusion, that, if the govern- 
ment price was slightly advanced, say, to two dollars per. 
acre, that it would in fact, generally, if not uniformly re- 
duce the price, to small purchasers and be beneficial to 
them in dollars and cents. It may be asked, if advancing 
the government price, to two dollars would be beneficial 
to the laboring class who can only purchase small quan- 
tities, would it not increase the benefits to them, by ad- 
vancing it to three dollars, and in proportional ratio from 
three to four, five, and so on, bestow additional blessings 
and benefits upon the laboring poor. 

No law of Congress provides that the public lands shall 
not be sold for more than one dollar and twenty -five cents 
per acre; such a law, if passed, could not be carried in- 
to practice without partiality and injustice ; because, in 



152 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

many cases half a dozen persons, or more, would want 
the same tract or section of land, and each w^illing to give 
more than the minimum price, discriminations would un- 
avoidably follow, founded in favoritism, partiality and 
oppression ; and such a law, if passed, would be found as 
impolitic in its operations, as unjust in its principles, and 
would scarcely be practicable. AH the government lands, 
^vhen brought into market, are offered at public sale to 
the highest bidder for cash, and in such portions as di- 
rected by law. At these sales, such capitalists as pur- 
chase lands on speculation have an advantage over men 
of smaller means, which no form of government, nor no 
code of laws which could be enacted, could wholly de- 
prive them of; but the power of the land speculator, back- 
ed by a weighty purse, over the man of small means, might 
be lessened, and ought to be; so far as practicable with- 
out injustice to either. It should be borne in mind, that 
a man who owns, and has in his possession, fifty thousand 
dollars or more, has legally and morally as good a right 
to use it in accordance with his own w^ill, as has the man 
who possesses one dollar — the right of each to his money, 
is equal. The power that the rich has over the poor, in 
the purchase of land, and in all business transactions, is 
pretty much upon the arithmetical principle, that two is 
more than one, three more than two, and so on, in arith- 
metical progression ; in other words, he that has fifty 
thousand dollars, can purchose and pay for more land at 
a given price, than he who has but half that sum, and so 
on throughout all business transactions. 

The waiter has already indicated that the minimum 
price of the pubhc lands, are below their real value, in a 
comparative point of view, that speculators purchase at 
sales, and enter, immediately after the public sales are 
closed, large tracts, and sell to small purchasers at an ad- 
vance of from fifty to a hundred per cent, or more. Spec- 
ulators are benefitted^ and small purchasers imposed upon^ 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 153 

and the government gains nothing, but in effect, loses in 
a laudable effort to favor small purchasers. If it should 
be agreed that a dollar and twenty-five cents per acre is 
too low, it would not follow that the price should be ad- 
vanced to five or ten dollars. Public and individual good, 
and the teachings of reason and experience admonish us 
to avoid extremes in our political and avocational trans- 
actions and intercourse with each other. 

If the government price of one dollar and a quarter, 
could be so guarded as to keep it out of the hands of spec 
ulators, and secure it to actual setlers ; the writer \voul3 
not wish to disturb the price, but would be highly grati- 
fied. Such, however, is not the case; and the only means 
which can lessen the power of capitalists over working 
men of smaller means, is to fix the price as near as prac- 
tical to a comparative value. 

The writer goes for ''state rights," in the sensible and 
practical meaning of the term. He contends upon the 
principles of justice, that after the national debt was paid 
off, the remaining portion of the public domain rightfully 
belonged to the States. He lays no claim to the public 
lands in Louisiana or in Florida ; but as they w^ere paid 
for before the national debt w^as liquidated, out of the pub- 
lic treasury, it is worthy of consideration, whether the 
States are not justly entitled to the money paid for them. 
We have two classes of ''state right" men, one w^ho con- 
tends that the federal government has a right to swallow 
and absorb the public lands ; and that it is the duty of the 
states to improve the country by roads, canals, and the 
removal of obstructions from rivers ahove tide water; the 
national benefits of w^hich was so eloquently stated by 
Gen. Jackson, as quoted in page 102. These pseudo 
economists go for a strong Federal Executive, to veto all 
bills for the benefit and relief of the states. 

In October, 1843, the quantity of unsold land was es- 
timated by the Commissioner of the General Land Office3 



154 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

at one thousand and forty-two millions, seven hundred and 
thirty-one thousand, seven hundred and sixty-five acres, 
which at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, would 
amount to $1,303,414,706 25. Louisiana, Florida, and 
Oregon, up to 54, 40, are included in the estimate, which 
should be deducted. The remaining portion unsold, would 
amount in round numbers to 600,000,000 ; which divid- 
ed among the States in proportion to the number of elec- 
tors, would give to Maryland, 16,551,724 acres, and the 
minimum Government price of $1 25, amounts to $20,- 
689,655. 



CHAPTER V. 

On Banking- Institutions. 

Banks have grown up w^ith our political institutions, 
and have been supported by every political pany since the 
formation of the government. There always w^ere indi- 
viduals who advocated an exclusively specie currency; but 
in number comparatively small. With the creation and 
management of the state Banks, however, the federal gov- 
ernment has nothing to do. The constiiutionality of a 
National Bank has been questioned by a large portion of 
the people of the U. States; whilst, on the other hand, it 
has been, directly or indirectly, pronounced constitutional 
by most of the fathers of the old republican and federal 
parties. It has, it is believed, been pronounced constitu- 
tional by every member of the convention that framed the 
Constitution, so far as their sentiments can be ascertained. 
The writer has not been able to find any evidence ihat any 
member of the convention pronounced a National Bank 
Uiiconstitutionalj and it has been declared constitutional 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 155 

by a decision of the Supreme Court. The question was 
never submitted to the people of the U. States unconnected 
with any otlier, and it is not probable that it ever will. It 
is natural for every politician to believe that a majority of 
the people think exactly as he does upon all important 
questions. If the sentiments of the representatives are re- 
garded as the voice of the people, an affirmative or nega- 
tive vote is entitled to equal consideration. 

The writer will go upon the principle that the represent- 
atives have expressed the sentiments of their constituents 
upon the bank question at every decision in Congress upon 
the subject. If it be said, by the opponents of a Bank, that 
every vote in Congress in favor of a Bank was in opposi- 
tion to the sentiments of a majority of the people, upon 
the same principle, it may be said that a majority of Con- 
gress always have been and ever will be in opposition to 
the voice of the people upon all subjects. Such a dec- 
laration, however, could have no weight with an unpre- 
judiced man; but arguments would be unavailing with an 
opponent of a Bank who believes that a majority of the 
people have invariably thought exactly as he has upon the 
subject, and that the decisions ot ihe representatives of 
the people and of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Mad- 
ison, Monroe and Jackson, sanctioned by a decision of 
the Supreme Court of the United States, in support of the 
constitutionality of a National Bank, are wrong. A Na- 
tional Bank, as we shall prove, by the official communi- 
cations of President Jackson, was one of his favorite 
measures ; and we shall prove, also, that he was as anx- 
ious for the establishment of such an institution as he was 
for an amendment of the Constitution so as to make the 
president ineligible for a second term — the evidence in 
both cases being equally clear and conclusive, and such 
as cannot be shaken without questioning his sincerity. 

The yeas and nays on the final passage of the first 
Bank bill in the Senate of ihe United States, on Thurs- 
day, January 20ihj ITQl, were as follows : 



156 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Yeas, — Messrs. Bassett^ Dalion, Dickenson^ Ellsworth, 
Elmer^ Foster, Gunn, JoJmsoUj Johnston, King^ Langdon 
Maclay, Morris^ Read, Schuiler, Stanton, Strong, Win- 
gate— 18. 

JYays. — Messrs. Butter^ Faw^ Hawkins, Izard, and 
Monroe — 5. 

Three of the members were absent. Those in italic 
w^ere menbers of the convention which formed the Con- 
stitution. Six voted for it, and Gen. Washing! on, the 
President of the convention, approved the bill; two voted 
against it. The party names at that period were federal- 
ists and anti-federalists; the latter soon took the title of 
republicans, headed by Mr. Jefferson. 
Extract from the Journal of the House of Representatives j 

Fehraary 8th, 1791. 

^'Yeas and Nays upon the passage of the bill entitled 
^'An act to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the 
United States" : — 

Yeas. — Fisher Ames, Egbert Benson, Elias Boudinot, 
Benjamin Bowen, Lambert Cadwallader, George Clyraer 
Thomas Fitzsimons^V^iWmm Floyd, Abiel Fosier,Elbridge 
Gerry, Nicholas Gilman, Benjamin Goodhue, Thomas 
Hartley, John Haihorn, Daniel Heister, Benjamin Hunt- 
ington, John Lawrence, George Leonard, Samuel Liver- 
more, Peter Muhlenberg, George Patridge, Jeremiah Van 
Rensselear, James Schureraan, Thomas Scott, Theodore 
Sedwick, Joshua Seney, John Seiver, Roger Sherman^ 
Peter Silvester, Thomas Sinnickson, William Smith of 
Md., William Smith of S. C, John Steel, Jonathan Stur- 
ges, George Thatcher, Jonathan Trumbull, J. Vining, J. 
Wadsworth, Henry Wynkoop — 39. 

JYays, — John Baptist Ashe, Abraham Baldwin, Timo- 
thy Bloodworth, John Brown, Edanus Burke, Daniel Car- 
roll, Benjamin Contee, George Gale, Jonathan Grout, 
William B. Giles, James Jackson, Richard Bland Lee, 
James Madison, jr., George Matthews, Andrew Moore, 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 157 

Josiah Parker, M. Jenifer Stone, Thomas Tudor Tucker, 
Alexander White, Hugh Williamson, — 20." 

Those in italic^ five in all, were menabers of the Con- 
vention which framed the Constitution. The writer cannot 
politically designate many of them, and will therefore, class 
those only of whom he can speak, with certainty. Messrs. 
Bassett, Dickenson, Langdon and Monroe, of the Senate 
were anti-federalists. Mr. Monroe, who voted in the neg- 
• alive, afterwards changed his sentiments upon the subject, 
as will be proven in the proper place. In the House of Rep- 
resentatives, Messrs. Gerry, Heister, Giles and Madison 
were anti-federalists ; Ptichard Bland Lee was a federalist 
from Va., and was superseded by Richard Brent, a JefFer- 
sonian republican, who, after succeeding to the United 
States Senate, voted for re-chartering the Bank in 1811. 
Mr. Brent was one of Virginia's favorite sons, and it was 
believed that he was unsurpassed in point of talent by any 
member of either department of Congress. 

The following is a transcript, furnished by a member of 
Congress, from the journals, of the vote on the bill for re- 
chartering the first Bank, in 1811. As the writer cannot 
politically designate many of the members, he will only 
class the Virginia Senators, Brent and Giles, who were 
republicans. It will be seen that the Senate was equally 
divided, and that Mr. Clinton, Vice-president, decided the 
question in favor of striking out the first section. In the 
House the bill was indefinitely postponed, by a majority 
of one. At that period, the republicans had a large uia- 
jority in both Houses. He believes the federalists had 
but ten members in the Senate and not more than forty-five 
in the House. 

''House of Representatives, U. S. 1 
January 24, 1811. \ 

The House resumed the consideration of the unfinished 
business of yesterday, and the question depending at the 
time of the adjournment, to wit: the indefinite postpone- 



158 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ment of the order of the day on the bill to continue for a 
further time the charter of the Bank of the United States, 
was again stated, and being taken, it was resolved in the 
affirmative. Yeas, 65. Nays, 64. 

Fea-s— Lemuel J. Alston, Wm. Anderson, Ezekial Ba- 
con, David Bard, Wm. T. Barry, Burwell Bassstt, Wm. 
W. Bibb, Adam Boyd, Robt. Brown, Wm. Butler, Joseph 
Calhoun, Langdon Cheves, Matthew Clay, James Coch- 
ran, Wm. Crawford, Richard Cutts, John Dawson, Jo- 
seph Desha, John W. Eppes, Meshach Franklin, Barzil- 
lai Gannett, Gideon Gardener, Thomas Gholson, Peterson 
Goodvvyn, Edwin Gray, James Holland, Richard M.John- 
son, Walter Jones, Thomas Kenan, Wm. Kennedy, John 
Love, Aaron Lyle, Nathaniel Macon, Alexander M'Kim, 
Wm. McKinley, Samuel L. Mitchell. John Montgomery, 
Nicholas R. Moore, Thomas Moore, Jeremiah Morrow, 
Gurden S. MumJord, Thomas Newton, John Porter, Pe- 
ter B. Porter, John Rea, of Penn., John Rea, of Tenn., 
Matthias Richards, Samuel Ringgold, John Roane, Ebe^ 
nezer Sao^e, Lemuel Sawyer, Ebenezer Seaver, Adam 
Seybert, John Smilie, Geo. Smith, Samuel Smith, Hen- 
ry Southard, George M. Troup, Charles Turner, Jr. , 
Archibald Van Horn, Robert Weakley, Robert Whitehill, 
Richard Winn, Robert Witherspoon, Robert Wright. — 
65. 

JYays — Joseph Allen, Willis Alston, Jr., Abijah Bige- 
low,DanielBlaisdell, James Breckenridge, John Campbell 
John C. Chambeilain, Wm. Chamberlain, Epaphraditus 
Champion, Martin Chittenden, John Davenport, Jr., Wm. 
Ely, James Emott, Wm. Findley, Jonathan Fisk, Barent 
Gardenier, David S. Garland, Charles Goldsborough, 
Thos. R. Gold, Wm. Hale, Nathaniel A. Haven, Daniel 
Heister, Wm. Holmes, Jona. H. Hubbard, Jacob Hufty, 
Ebenezer Huntington, Richard Jackson, Jr., Robert Jen- 
kins, Philip B. Key, Herman Knickerbacker, Joseph Lew- 
is, Jr., Robert Le Roy Livingston, Vincent Mathews, 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 159 

Archibald McBryde, Samuel McKee, Pleasant M. Miller, 
Wm. Milnor, Jona. 0. Mosely, Thos. Newbold, John 
Nicholson, Joseph Pearson, Benj. Pickman, Jr., Timothy 
Pitkin, Jr., Elisha R. Potter, Josiah Quincy, John Ran- 
dolph, Thomas Sammons, J. A. Scudder, Samuel Shaw, 
Daniel Sheffey, Dennis Sm^lt, John Smith, Richard Stan- 
ford, John Stanley, James Stephenson, Lewis B. Stugis, 
Jacob Swoope, Samuel Taggert, Benj. Tallmadge, John 
Thompson, Nicholas Van Dyke, K. K. Van Rensselaer, 
Laban Wheaton, Jas. Wilson. — 64. 

In the Senate of the U. S. ) 
February 20, 1811. ] 

Agreeable to the order of the day the Senate resumed, 
as in committee of the whole, the bill to amend and con- 
tinues in force an act entitled ^'An Act to incorporate the 
subscribers to the Bank of the United States, passsd on 
the 25th day of February, 1791" ; and, on the question to 
strike out the first, section of the bill, as follows; ''Be it 
enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, that 
the act entitled An Act to incorporate the subscribers to 
the Bank of the United States, passed the 25th of Feb., 
1791, "be and the same is hereby continued in force until 
the 4th of March, in the year of our Lord 1831, subject 
to the conditions and restrictions hereinafter specified," 
it was determined in the affirmative. Yeas 17. Nays 
17. 

Yeas. — Messrs. Anderson, Campbell, Clay, Cutts, 
Franklin, Gaiilaixl, German, Giles, Gregg, Lambert, Leib 
Mathewson, Reed, Robinson, Smith, of Md., Whiteside 
and Worthington. 

JVays. — Messrs. Bayard, Bradley, Brent, Ghamplin, 
Condit, Crawford, Dana, Gilman, Goodrich, Horsey^ 
Lloyd, Pickering, Pope, Smith, of N. Y., Tait, Taylor, 
and Turner. 



160 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

The Senate being equally divided, the President deter- 
mined the question in the affirmative." 

The following is the vote for the chartering of the sec- 
ond National Bank : — 

''•From the National Intelligencer of August 8, 1840. 

The question on the final passage of the Bank bill in 
the House of Representatives [in 1816] was determined 
in the affirmative, by yeas 81, nays 71, as follows: 

Yeas-Messrs. Adgate,Alexander,Atherton, Baer,Betts, 
Boss, Bradbury, Brown, Calhoun, Cannon, Champion, 
Chappell, Clark, of N. C, Clark, ofKy., Clenenin, Corn- 
stock, Condict, Conner, Creighton, Crocheron, Cuthbert, 
Edwards, Forney, Forsyth, Gholson, Griffin, Grosvenor, 
Hawes, Henderson, Huger, Hulbert, Hungerford, Ingham, 
Irving, Jackson, Jewett, King, Love, Lumpkin, Lowndes, 
Kerr,McClay, Mason, McCoy, McKee,Middleton, Moore, 
Mosely, Murfree, Nelson, Parris, Pickens, Pinkney, Pi- 
per, Robertson, Sharpe, Smith, of Md., Smith, of Va., 
Southard, Taul, Taylor, of N. Y., Taylor, of S. C, Tel- 
fair, Thomas, Throop, Towmsend, Tucker, Ward, Wen- 
dover, Wheaton, Wilde, Wilkin, Williams, Willoughby, 
T. Wilson, of Penn., W. Wilson, of Penn., Woodward, 
Wright, Yancey, Yates — 81. 

JYays — Messrs. Baker, Barbour, Bassett, Bennett, Bird- 
sail, Blount, Breckenridge, Burnside, Burwell, Cady, 
Caldwell, Cilley, Clayton, Clopton, Cooper, Crawford, 
Culpepper, Darlington, Davenport, Desha, Gaston, Gold, 
Goldsborough, Goodwin, Hahn, Hall, Hanson, Hardin, 
Herbert, Hopkinson, Johnson, Kent, Langdon, Law", Lew- 
is, Lovett, Lyle, Lyon, Marsh, Mayrant, McLean of Ky., 
McLean, of Ohio, Milnor, Newton, Noyes, Ormsby, Pick- 
ering, Pitkin, Randolph, Reed, Root, R.oss, Ruggles, 
Savage, Sergeant, Sheffey, Smith, Stanford, Stearns, 
Strong, Sturges, Taggari, Tallmadge, Vose, Wallace, 
Ward, of Mass., Ward, of N. Y., Webster, Whiteside, 
Wilcox — 71. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 161 

Classed politically, according to the designations of par- 
ty at that day, of the Republican Members sixty-seven vo- 
ted in favor of the bill, and of ihe Federal Members thir- 
teen; and of those who voted against the bill, about one- 
half were Republicans and one-halt Federalists. Two-thirds 
of the Republicans, therefore, voted for the bill, and more 
than two-thirds of the Federalists against it. 

When the bill came to the Senate, it was debated, amen- 
ded, and finally passed by the following vote : 

Yeas Messrs. Barbour, Barry, Brown, Campbell, 

Chase, Condit, Daggett, Fromentin, Harper, Horsey, 
Howell, Hunter, Lacock, Mason, ofVa., Morrow, Rob- 
erts, Talbot, Tait, Taylor, Turner, Varnum, Williams. — 
22. 

JYays — Messrs. Dana, Gaillard, Goldsborough, Gore, 
King, Macon, Mason, of N. H., Ruggles, Sanford, Tich- 
enor. Wells. Wilson — 12. 

Of the Yeas, on this vote, seventeen w^ere Republicans 
and five Federalists, and of the Nays, five were Republi- 
cans and seven Federalists. 

So that two-thirds of all the Republican members of Con- 
gress assisted to pass the Bank Charter, and two-thirds of 
the Federalists did their best to prevent its passage. 

The writer next adds the vote taken in the Senate, 11th 
June, 1832, on the bill extending the charter of the second 
bank; which bill was vetoed by President Jackson. 

Feas-Messrs. Bell, Buckner, Chambers, Clay, Clayton, 
Dallas, Ewing, Foot, Fr.3linghuysen, Hendricks, Holmes, 
Johnston, Naudain, Poindexter, Premiss, Bobbins, Robin- 
son, Ruggles, Seymour, Silsebee, Smith, Sprague, Tip- 
ton, Tomiinson, Waggamon, Webster, Wilkins — 28. 

JVai/^-Benton, Bibb, Brown, Dickerson, Dudley, Ellis, 
Forsyth, Grundy, Hayne, Hill, Kane, King, Mangum, 
Marcy, Miller, Moore, Tazewell, Troup, Tyler, White— 
20. 

In the House, July 3rd:— 

L 



162 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Yeas — Messrs. Adams, Chilton Allen, H. Allen, Alli- 
son, Appleton, Armstrong, Arnold, Ashley, Babcock, 
Banks, Barber, Baringer, Barstow, Isaac C. Bates, Boon, 
Briggs, Bucher, Bullard, Burd, Burges, Choate, Collier, 
Lewis Condict, Silas Condict, Eleutheros Cooke, Bates 
Cooke, Cooper, Corwin, Coulter, Craig, Crane, Crawford, 
Crayton, Daniel, John Davis, Dearborn, Denney, Dewart, 
Dodridge, Drayton, Ellsworth, J. Evans, Edward Everett, 
Horace Everett, G. Evans, Ford, Gilmore, Grennell, 
Hodges, Heister. Horn, Hughes, Huntington, Ihrie, In- 
gersoll, Irwin, Isacks, Jenifer, Kendall, Henry King, Kerr, 
Letcher Mann, Marshall, Maxwell, R. McCoy, McDuflSe, 
McKennan, Mercer, Milligan, Newton, Pearce, Pendleton, 
.Pitcher, Potts, Randolph, John Reed, Root, Russel, Sem- 
mes, William B. Shepard, A. G. Shepard, Slade, Smith, 
Southard, Spence, Stanbury, Stephens, Stewart, Storrs, 
Southerland, Taylor, Philemon Thomas, Thompkins, 
Tracy, Vance, Verplank, Vinton, Vv^atmough, Wilkin, E. 
Whittlesey, F. Whittlesey, E. D. White, Wickliffe, Wil- 
liams, Young — 107. 

JYays — Messrs. Adair, Alexander, Anderson, Archer, 
Barnw^ell, J. Bates, Beardsley, Bell, Bergen, Bethume, J. 
Blair John Blair, Bouck, Bouldin, Branch, J. C. Broad- 
head, Camberleng, Carr, Chandler, Chinn, Claiborne, 
Clay, Clayton, Conner, Davenport, Dayan, Doubleday, 
Felder, Fitzgerald, Foster, Gaither, Gordon, Griffen, T. 
H. Hall, W. Hall, Hammons, Harper, Hawes, Hawkins, 
Hoffman, Hogan, Holland, Howards, Hubbard, Jarvis C. 
Johnson, Kavanaugh, Kendall, Kennon, A. King, J. King, 
Lamar,Lansing, Leavitt, Lecompte, LewiSjLyon, Mardis, 
Mason, McCarty, Mclntyre, McKay, Mitchell, Newman, 
Nuckols, Patton, Pierson, Plum.mer, Polk, E. C. P.eed, 
Rencher, Roane, Soule, Speight, Standifer, F. ThomaS;, 
W. Thompson, ^Ward, Wardwel!, Wayne, Weeks, 
Wheeler, Camp P. White, Wild, Worthington— 85 

The writer will be excused for not designating the par 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 163 

ties as Federalists and Republicans, as no such parties 
were in existence at that time. The distinctive party 
names at that period were Jacksonians or the Jackson par- 
ty, and the National Republican party or Anti-Jackson. 
The democratic and whig parties were not organized for 
several years afterwards. The truth of the foregoing will 
not be questoned by any man whose recollection of party 
names will carry him back to that period, and when mem- 
ory is deficient, a reference to the files of party papers of 
that period will settle the question. 

As the writer never belonged to the federal party, he 
cannot be expected to attempt to eulogise the federalists ; 
but he has no desire to do them injustice. During the 
Revolution, Washington was the Samson in the field and 
Jefferson the Solomon in council. After the patriots, by 
their united valor in the field, and wise measures in the 
Legislative Halls, wrested the colonies from Great Britain, 
and proceeded to form a constitution and organize an in- 
dependent government, free discussions developed differ- 
ent views, which gave rise to political names. Those who 
took the name of federalists, were as true game cocks and 
patriots throughout the days that tried men's souls, as 
those who chose the names of republicans. After there- 
publicans turned the federalists out of office, it is but jus- 
tice to say, that with few exceptions, they carried out all 
the leading measures of tne federal party. But it is due 
to the republicans to say that they considered the federal- 
ists as premature in some of their measures, and, moreo- 
ver, that they did not consider them as competent to man- 
age the affairs of the nation as they, the republicans, 
v/ere. 

During the late vv^ar, the political struggle between the 
republicans and federalists was increased in violence. — 
The latter were opposed to the declaration of war which 
they pronounced unnecessary. It is not probable that any 
liberal minded man ever denounced the federal party for 



164 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 



being opposed to the declaration of war. Several repub 
hcan members of Congress voted with the federalists ii 
opposition to Its declaration ; it was however, declared b 
a large majority of the representatives of the people. Th< 
course of the federalists, generally, as civilians, in oppos- 
ing the measures to carry on the war, was pronounced ex 
ceptionable by the republicans. The federalists denounc- 
ed the republicans for declaring the war, and the republi- 
cans denounced the federalists for not uniting with them 
in all the measures for its support ; and there was no um- 
pire to settle the question between them. The federalists 
generally in and out ot Congress, declared their willing- 
ness to support the war if its operations were confined with- 
in the limits of the United States and on the watei ; but 
were opposed to the invasion of Canada, whilst the enemy 
in the language of Mr. Webster, was illuminating his 
course by the conflagration of houses and villages on the 
shores of our bays and rivers. On the other hand the 
republicans asserted, (the writer thinks correctly,) that 
sound policy dictated that the war should be carried into 
the enemies country, and that he should be attacked at 
every assailable point ; and by invading Canada draw his 
forces from our territory. The federalists, as civilians and 
military men, presented a ccntrast— they fought as bravely 
as did the republicans. The federalists, generally, com- 
manded on the water, and the republicans generally, on 
land. 1 he federalists claimed almosi every naval victory: 
and their papers frequently, tauntingly, headed an article' 
in capitals: "Another naval victc ry by a federal- 
rsT!" Although the writer rejoiced at the victory, he did 
not rehsh the caption, which he thought unnecessary ; 
and though the writer does not believe that the federalists 
were as bad as they are sometimes represented to have 
been, jet, it is certain that if it was possible for the calen- 
der of time to be turned back thirty-five years, he would 
be placed where he then Was, in the republican ranks, 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 165 

battling against thy federalists. Since that time political 
names have have frequently changed and politicians have 
turned summersets ; and similar changes in names and 
measures will continue as long as our present form of 
government lasts and the mind is left free to think and 
act. 

The democrats of the present day sometimes say that 
they are a continuation of the old republican party. The 
whig and democratic parties are each ''like unto a net ihat 
was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind." Each 
party is composed of individuals of all classes, good and 
bad, positive, comparative and SUPERLATIVE. 

The only means by which w^e can arrive at the senti- 
ments of any man upon any subject is by his words spoken 
or written. A man may express sentiments which he does 
not entertain ; but this cannot disturb the premises laid 
down. We might as well attempt to hold an agreeable 
and important conversation with a dead man as to arrive 
at the sentiments of a living man, except by his words. — 
We shall now prove by the words of President Jackson 
^his w^ords alone shall betaken,) that, notwithstanding he 
was opposed to the Bank he was advocate for a Bank of a 
national character. In his first message after expressing 
lis objections to the Bank — the bank then in existence — 
he adds a paragraph in the following words: — 

'^Under these circumstances, if such an institution is 
essential to the fiscal operations of the government, I sub- 
mit to the wisdom of the Legislature whether a national 
ONE, founded upon the credit of our government and its 
revenues, might not be devised, which would avoid all 
constitutional difficulties ; and at the same time, secure all 
the advantages to the government and country that were 
expected to result from the present bank." 

A few words are emphasised. There cannot be found a 
sentence throughout all his official communications which 
conflicts with the foregoing ; if there could, he Would con- 



166 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

tradict himself; but sach is not the case, and his friends 
should not be anxious to place him in that predicament. — 
We next examine his veto message, in which he again 
appears an advocate for a National Bank. The second 
paragraph is in the following words: 

^'A Bank of the U. States is in many respects conve- 
nient for the government and useful to the people. Enter- 
taining this opinion, and deeply impressed with the belief 
that some of the privileges possessed by the existing Bank 
are unauthorised by the Constitution, subversive of the 
rights of the States, and dangerous to the liberties of the 
people, I felt it my duty, at an early period of my adminis- 
tration, to call the attention of Congress to the practicabil- 
ity of organizing an institution combining all its advantages, 
and obviating these objections. Isincerely regret that, in an 
act before me, I can see none of those modifications of the 
Bank charter w^hich are necessary, in my opinion, to make 
it compatible w^ith justice, with sound policy, or with the 
constitution of our country." 

Mark his w^ords ! ''Some of the privileges," — not all of 
the privileges. Again : ''I sincerely regret," &c. His 
language cannot be misunderstood by an intelligent man, 
nor w^ill it be misrepresented or distorted by any who 
claim to be candid. The wTiter's respect for ihe intelli- 
gent reader impells him to make no further comment on it. 

Towards the close of his message, for the purpose, 
doubtless, of impressing upon the minds of the people that 
he was in favor of a Bank, President Jackson uses the 
following language : 

''That a Bank of the U. S. competent to all the duties 
Avhich may be required by the government, might be so 
organized as not to infringe on our own delegated pow- 
ers, or the reserved rights of the States, I do not entertain 
a doubt. Had the executive been called upon to furnish 
the project of such an institution, the duty would have 
been cheerfully performed," 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 167 

As comment on the foregoing might be considered by 
the reader altogether superfluous, none will be made. It 
may not be generally known that the re-election of presi- 
dent Jackson was urged, in some sections of the country, 
on the ground, among other reasons, that, at the next 
Congress, he would propose a project for a Bank — that 
we would have a better Bank, better currency, i&c. The 
writer would, were it not improper, name prominent men 
now living who zealously supported the re-electoin of 
president Jackson and asserted that he would communi- 
cate at the next session of Congress a project for a Bank- 
They were, doubtless, sincere. Other Jacksonians object- 
ed to the veto on the ground that the president expressed 
sentiments in favor of a Bank. 

The snbstance of the charges made against the Bank 
was, that it was a great monied monopoly — an arristo- 
cratic and rotten institution, worming its way and power 
throughout the Union — bribing and corrupting the people 
—that, if it was re-chartered, it would overturn the gov- 
ernment, &c. Agriculturalists have yielded their objec- 
tions to the teachings of experience and, from the evidence 
of their senses, have adopted certain systems. Not so 
with the opponents of a Bank — it is a party quesiion. — 
What we shall say of the late Bank, will apply generally 
to the first. 

It furnished a sound, uniform and convenient currency 
for all classes of society. In all sections of the Union it 
was equivalent to specie, or at a premium. There was 
frequently a premium, paid in specie, for its notes ; but 
they were never at a discount. The Bank received and 
paid out the government funds without charge. It paid 
into the Treasury the government stock at the rate of about 
one hundred and sixteen dollars for every one hundred of 
the original stock — its annual dividends averaged about 
seven per cent. Its sound and useful currency rendered 
it, in the estimation of its opponents, dangerous to the lib' 



168 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

erties of the people. Upon the same principle whenever 
a president becomes very popular and his measures found 
highly beneficial to the nation, he ought to be denounced 
an aristocrat, laboring to bribe and corrupt the people, and 
should be hurled from office. 

All our institutions, moral and physical, must be man- 
aged by human minds and hands. And all ihat was, or 
could be said of the dangerous power of a National Bank, 
might, with equal propriety, be said of a president of the 
United States. Suppose that the U. States should here- 
after be involved in a war with a powerful nation, and the 
result doubtful, and the President should turn traitor and 
join the enemy ? Would that prove that we ought not to 
have a president, but a king? or would it prove anything 
against the principles or form of our government? The 
horse and the ox are useful animals, and yet men have 
been killed by the kick of a horse, and gored to death by 
an ox. A power to do good must carry with it an equal 
or superior power to do evil. Every institution and every 
individual, without a single exception, possesses at least 
as much povrer to do evil as to do good. The power of 
an institution or an individual to do good, cannot be great- 
er than the power to do evil. But generally speaking, a 
power to do good increases the power to do evil. 

An ordinary man cannot do much good, and yet he 
could commit a murder or set fire to a tow^n. Besides, 
the vetoing of the bank bill has certainly increased the 
power to commit all the evils so much dreaded, and which 
were set forth in the veto message in imposing language 
and good style, as it is certain that rain and snow produce 
freshets — the proof in both cases is equally conclusive. — 
It was the cause of increasing state banks, and bank cap- 
ital, far beyond that of the national institution: which, after 
being cut off from the federal government, was adopted by 
Pennsylvania with a capital of 28 millions of dollars — 25 
millions, at least, too much for a state institution, sur 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 169 

rounded by other banks. It was burthened by heavy 
bonuses ; and to enable it to use its large capital, it had 
privileges given to it, foreign to the legitimate business 
of banking, and never before, it is believed, conferred on 
any other bank : it might justly have been compared to 
an extensive commercial or trading company, and like 
many other trading houses failed, and the stockholders 
lost, it is believed, all their stock. It has sometimes been 
said that it was the same national bank, changed only in 
name. 

Upon the same principle when a rich man dies, and 
his estate passes into the possession of his heirs — , it is 
the same estate managed by its former, but deceased own- 
er. The national bank was dead; its large estate (cap- 
ital,) passed from the federal to the state government of 
Pennsylvania, and the power of the form^er and its sup- 
porters arrayed against it. Without questioning the mo- 
tives of President Jackson, and those who united with 
him in destroying the national bank, their measures are 
the cause of the great increase of banks and the shin-plas- 
ter currency, which subsequently flooded the country, and 
the real cause of the loss and distress produced by the 
failure of the late Pennsylvania U. S. Bank. 

From an official document bearing the signature of 
president Jackson, dated the I8th of September, 1833, 
and published in the Globe the 23d of the same month, 
and in Niles' Register, vol. 45, page 76, we make the 
following quotation : 

''The funds of the Government will not be annihilated 
by being transferred. They will immediately be issued 
for the benefit of trade, and if the Bank of the U. States 
curtails its loans, the State Banks, strengthened by the 
public deposites, will extend theirs. What comes in 
through one bank will go out through others, and the 
equilibrium will be preserved." 

If, m the foregoing, he did not urge the deposite banks, 



170 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

^^strengthened by the public deposites," to discount free- 
ly upon them, it was an official assurance that such a course 
was expected and would be approved. In one or the oth- 
er point of view it presents itself to every sober-minded 
man. But we ha^-e further evidence from the same high 
source. In his eighth and last annual message, president 
Jackson says : 

^'It is, besides, against the genius of our free institu 
tions to lock up in vaults the treasure of the nation. To 
take from the people the right of bearing arms and put 
their weapons of defence in the hands of a standing aimy, 
would be scarcely more dangerous to their liberties, than 
to permit government to accumulate immense amounts of 
treasure beyond the supplies necessary to its legitimate 
wants." 

In the same message, strange as it may seem, he uses 
this lano^uag^e : 

''The banks proceeded to make loans upon this surplus, 
and thus converted it into bank capital ; and in this man- 
ner it has tended to multiply bank charters, and has had 
a great agency in producing a spirit of wild speculation. 
The possession and use of the property out of which this 
surplus was created belonged to the people; but the gov- 
ernment has transferred its possession to incorporated 
banks, whose interest and effort it is to make large profits 
out of its use. This process needs only be stated to show 
its injustice and bad policy." 

In the first place, president Jackson, gave the deposite 
banks to understand, that it was expected of them to loan 
out the deposite money for the benefit of trade. Secondly, 
that it would be almost as wrong not to do so as to w^ith- 
hold arms from the people and place them in the hands of 
a standing army. Thirdly, that to lend out the money is 
"injustice and bad policy." Whilst the tongue could not 
utter, nor the mind conceive, greater inconsistency, the 
writer verily believes that it is wholly attributable to the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 171 

bad effects of party politics superseding reason and jus- 
tice. Gen. Jackson, in his military career, was brave and 
skilful ; he had, then, but one duty to perform — to fight 
for his country; he did so and rendered important services. 
As president, he had two duties to perform : to serve his 
country and his party. Emulated by a laudable ambition 
to serve boih, he destroyed a good currency and created a 
bad one. Ii is a tact that the average dividends paid by the 
deposite banks, were not larger than those of banks which 
never had anything to do with them, but, generally less; 
proof, positive, that the profits made by extending their 
discounts, as advised by Gen. Jackson, did not more than 
pay ihem for their extra expenses. It is a fact, that they 
received and paid out at their counters the public money 
without charge. It is a fact, that whilst some state banks 
applied for the deposites, others refused to receive ihem. 
It is a fact, that no responsible individual would, on his 
own responsibility, receive and pay out the government 
money without receiving compensation. It is a fact, that 
it would be unreasonable to ask an individual or banking 
institution to do so without compensation. And it is a 
fact, that if banking institutions are dispensed with in re- 
ceiving and disbursing the revenue, that large suras will 
frequently be withheld from circula don, additional oflScers 
required, and, probably, heavy losses by defaulters. 

Immediately afier the removal of the deposites, Mr. 
Taney addressed letters to (he deposit banks, urging them 
to discount on the strength of the public deposites. In a 
letter, dated October 9, 1833, he used this language: 

"The deposites of the public money will enable you to 
afford increased facilities to the commercial and other class- 
es of the community; the Department anticipates from you 
the adoption of such a course, respecting your accommo- 
dations, as will prove acceptable to the people and safe to 
the Government." 

We next offer the following letter at full length from 



172 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Mr. Woodbury, at that time Secretary of the Treasury: 
''Treasury Department, Jan. 29, 1837. 
"S. Merrill, Esq., President: 

"In selecting your institution as one of the fiscal agents 
of the Government, I need only rely on its solidity as af- 
fording a sufficient guaranty for the safety of the public 
money entrusted to iis keeping, but I confide also in its 
disposition to adopt the most liberal course, which circum- 
stances will admit, towards other institutions. The depos- 
ites of the public moneys will enable you to afford increas- 
ed facilities to the commercial and other classes of the 
community, and the Department anticipates from you the 
adoption of such a course^ respecting accommodation^ as 
will prove acceptable to the people and safe to the Govern- 
ment 

"I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

'^'LEVI WOODBURY, 
''Secretary of the Treasury.'^ 

The above letter was written only about three months 
previous to the first general suspension. We next ask the 
reader to bear in mind that the last sentence of the above 
letter agrees, word for word, and letter for letter, with in- 
structions given by his predecessor nearly four years pre- 
vious, from which it appears that the two Secretaries had 
standing instructions prepared for the bsnks. The Globe, 
the official paper, of Dec, 1833, exultingly said : 

"The coaliiion has labored in vain ; every western 
state is about to establish a state bank institution. Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky, are resolved to 
take care of themselves, .and no longer depend on the 
kind guardianship of Messrs. Biddle, Clay, & Co." 

We next lay before the reader tabular statements of the 
number of state banks in the United States from 1792 to 
1837. They will be found convenient for reference, and 
will, it is believed, be useful to that large and respectable 
portion of the community who neither seek nor desire ot- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 173 

fice; to that portion, more than to any other, we must 
look to for the preservation of our republican institutions, 
our liberty, and every thing dear to us or worthy of pres- 
ervation. That portion can have no motive to deceive, 
and they will never, knowingly, act wrong. 

The tables are carefully prepared from official docu- 
ments. 

Years. Banks. Capital. 

1792 11 $8,935,000 

1801 32 22,550,000 

1805 75 40,493,000 

1811 88 42,610,000 

1815 157 82,259,590 

1816 246 89,822,422 
1820 307 102,210,611 
1830 329 111,292,268 

8#»1834 506 170,123,788 

§#-1835 678 193,548,361 

8«t-1836 689 316,875,295 

Ccct-1837 1007 378,421,291 

The four first periods (1792, 1801, 1805, and iSll,) 

cover the whole duration of the first United States Bank. 

The charter of that institution expired in 1811, and there 

were then 88 Staie Banks. The second U. Stales Bank 

was chartered under Mr. Madison, m 1S16. In the five 

years that intervened between the expiration of the first 

bank and the chartering of the second, the State Banks 

had increased from 88 to 246, being 158 increase. 

From 1816, the date of th- second United States Bank, 
to 1830, when Gen. Jackson had commenced his rigorous 
attacks upon it — being a period of fourteen years — the 
State Banks increased only from 246 to 329, being 83 — 
an average of only six a year. From 1830 to 1837 — sev- 
en years — the State Banks had increased 678 (from 329 
to 1007) being an annual average of ninety-seven. 

Take another view : From the Revolutionary war to the 



174 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 

year 1830 the number of State Banks created was 329 ; 
and, from 1830 to 1837 the number created was 678. In 
other words, the policy of Gen. Jackson and Mr. Van Bu- 
ren has given the country more State Banks than existed 
in the whole of the preceding period of our history; yes, 
more, by 678. 

We beg the reader to examine the foregoing official ta- 
ble, furnished by the Government, leisurely, and to draw 
his own conclusions. Let him notice that in 1830 there 
were but 329 State Banks; and, that the policy of pres- 
ident Jackson, in the short space of seven years, increas- 
ed them to the number of ten hundred and seven. He can- 
not, then, wonder that the country has been flooded with 
shinplasters, nor can he doubt as to the party measures 
that produced the bank explosions. 

The following table gives a condensed view of the num- 
ber of banks chartered in eleven States, in 1835 and '36, 
and their capitals : — 
States. 

Maine, (V. B.) 

Massachusetts, (Whig) 

Rhode Island, (V. B.) 

Vermont, (Whig) 

New York, (V. B.) 

New Jersey, (V. B.) 

Pennsylvania, (V. B.) 

Maryland, (Whig) 

Alabama, (V. B.) 

Arkansas, (V. B.) 

Michigan, (V. B.) 

To err is the lot of man, from which none are exempt. 
It w^as reasonable to have expected that after ihe policy of 
President Jackson failed to produce a ^'better currency" 
which was promised, (no doubt honestly,) that ihe error 
would have been acknowledged, and a National Bank 
erected ; but Mr. Van Buren tried another '^experiment," 



No/ 


Capital. 


23 
33 


$1,600,000 
6,820,000 


3 


350,000 


1 
12 

1 

6 
11 

1 


300,000 

5,250,000 

200,000 

36,700,000 

16,000,000 

5,000,000 


2 
9 


3,000,000 
3,250,000 



'political equilibrium. 175 

and the result is known. It would be difficult if not im- 
possible to ascertain the amount of Bank capital owned 
by each political party, nor is it important ; but as the 
democratic party have sometimes charged the whig party 
with being the Bank party, and denounced Banks as aris- 
tocratic institututions ; the following facts may not be un- 
important. First one argument used by the whig party 
in favor of a National Bank was, that it would prevent an 
unwholesome increase of State Banks ; secondly, the in- 
crease of Banks in the democratic or Jackson States, was 
greater than in the whig States. 

If, however, there are any institutions in the United 
States more democratic than others, they are positively 
Banking institutions. Because, the stock is held by all 
classes of the people, male and female, rich and poor. — 
Any man who can raise twenty dollars, or more, can be a 
Bank stockholder ; and, if of good character, may be a di- 
rector or president. Besides, but a small portion of Bank 
capital is owned by stockjobbers or brokers, and it would 
certanly be to their interest to abolish all Banking institu- 
tions. But the writer does not charge them with being 
influenced by such motives, nor with being hostile to the 
Banks. It could not be expected that they would vest 
their capital in Banks, which when in their most flourish- 
ing condition, would only pay them six or seven percent, 
per annum, and in time of pressure not more, perhaps, 
than two or three per cent., when they can make more by 
shaving paper. Surely stockjobbers and brokers have the 
same right to use their own money in any legal way they 
please as other persons. The stockjobbers and brokers 
have no right to complain, nor do they complain of the 
democracy for establishing Banks. It is true that all bro- 
kers are not men of large capital ; and it is equally true 
that few of them are Bank men, for the reasons previously 
stated. We have brokers in the country with capitals va- 
rying from fifty dollars to fifty thousand ; and there exists 



176 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

between them exactly the same difference that exists be- 
tween the sparrowhawk and the eagle ; the former shaves 
paper in proportion to their capital and'at a discount gov- 
erned by circumstances; whilst the sparrov/hawk and eagle 
pounce upon game in proportion to their powers of de- 
struction. 

Notwithstanding the democracy extended the Banking 
institutions, so far as to lessen their usefulness, it is doubt- 
ful whether they could be extended so far as to produce as 
great an evil as would certainly follow if they were abol 
ished. In all hard-money countries, without a sing^le ex- 
ception, the w^ages of labor are from fifty to eighty per 
cent, lower than in the United States, and the price of 
povisions are, upon an average, as high-probably higher, 
and the laboring class subsist on a scanty allowance of 
brown-bread and low, coarse diet. Such would be the 
case in the United States, in the course of time, if all 
Banking institutions were abolished. The following is 
an extrcict from the speech delivered in the Senate of the 
U. States by the Hon. W. D. Merrick in January, 1840: 

''In November^ 1833, instructions were sent by the 
British Secretary of State, Lord Palmerston, to certain 
British consuls residing abroad, requiring answers to cer- 
tain questions having reference to the state of agriculture 
and to the condition of the agricultlural peasantry within 
the districts of their consulates. Answers received from 
the consuls in various parts of France, Germany, the Neth- 
erlands, and Itaty, have lately been presented to Parlia- 
ment ; and from these documents the following abstract is 
taken : 

''France : Calais, ploughmen, from 100 to 160 shillings 
a year ; shepherds, 250 shillings ; labourer, 71-2 pence a 
day, found board only. Boulogne, ploughmen, 144 shil- 
lings a year ; laborers, 5 pence a day, without board or 
dwelling. Havre, farm servants, generally, 160 to 240 
shillings a year, and at Brest from 48 to 120 shillings a 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 177 

year. Nants, laborers 8 1-2 pence a day and find them 
selves. Charante, farm servanis, generally, from 60 to 160 
shillings a year. Bordeaux, laborers from 12 to 15 pence 
a day and nothing found. Bayone, laborers, from 9 to 12 
pence a day, nottiing in addiiion. Marseilles, shepherds, 
from 200 to 240 shillings a year. Corsica, laboi-ers, 11 
pence a day, nothing else. Germany : Dantzig, farm ser- 
vanis, from 52 to 64 shillings a year; laborers from 4 1-2 
toTpence a day, without board but found dwelling. Meck- 
lenburg, farm servants, 100 shillings a year; laborers, 7 
pence a day, with dwelling but noi board. Holsiein, farm 
servants, from 73 to lOO^shillings a year ; laborers,? pence 
a day and dwelling but not board. Netherlands : South 
Holland, farm servants, from 200 to 250 shillings a year ; 
laborers, from 3 to 4 pence a day and found. North Hol- 
land: Friesland, farm servants, from 50 to 160 shillings a 
year ; laborers, from 6 to 16 pence a day and find them- 
selves. Antwerp, farm servants, 78 shillings a year; la- 
borers 5 pence a day and find themselves. West Flan- 
ders, farm servants, 96 to 104 shillings a ye^r. Italy: 
Triesl, laborers, from 6 to 12 pence a day and find them- 
selves. Istra, laborers, from 8 to 10 pence a day and find 
themselves; or 4 to 5 pence a day and found board and 
dwelling. Lombardy, laborers from 4 to 8 pence a day 
and found. Genoa, farm servants, from 60 to 100 shillings 
a year ; laborers, from 5 to 8 pence a day, no board but 
dwelling; or 12 pence a day without board or dwelling. 
Tuscany, farm servanis, 40 shillings a year; laborers, 6 
pence a day and find themselves." All those who worked 
by the year were found in board and dwelling. 

^'Now sir, I am greatly in hopes our people will read and 
ponder over this staieraem: they will there see that in 
France yearly w^ages for an able-bodied man, range from 
48 to 250 shillings ; and day laborers get in thai country 
from four pence half-penny to fifteen pence per day ; and 
whenever they get as much as 5 pence ihey have to find 

M 



178 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

themselves. In Germany, wages are still lower, and rang* 
by the year between 52 and 100 shillings, and day labor* 
ers receive from 4 1-2 to 7 pence per day, and find them- 
selves in food. In South Holland, farm hands get from 
200 to 250 shillings, and day laborers I'rom 3 to 4 pence 
per day, and are found. And so on, sir. Whoever 
will take the trouble to examine the statement, which is 
official and authentic^ will see, that in all these countries 
which are held up to us as such bright examples of hard- 
money countries — France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy — 
wages by the year for an able-bodied, sound, healthy man, 
nowhere exceed 250 shillings; and in many instmces, fall 
as low as forty, fifty, and sixty shillings ; and ihe daily 
wages range from three pence to nine anri twelve pence, 
rising in one place, and only one; to twenty pence, and 
the laborer finding himself I What a commeniary upon the 
hard-money policy." 

The reader is earnestly requested to bear in mind, that 
the average price of provisions in the hard-money coun ries 
is as high, if not higher, than in the Uniied Siates. Every 
man who is intelligent upon the subject, and who is an 
advocate for an exclusively hard-money currency, whether 
he calls himself a democrat or a whig, or by whatever cog- 
nomen he may choose to be known, must be an advocate 
for those marked distinctions in society which prevail in 
all hard-money countries. Although such a man is not in 
a direct and lueral sense a c mnibal, he can have no other 
regard for the laboring class ihan that which he has for 
the flesh, fowl, and fish which supply his table. His object 
mustbeto render poverty and misery hereditary throughout 
the working class, and gormandize on the fruits of iheir 
labor. Every such intelligen' politician is morally a man- 
eater. Ye men of labor! if we are brought u) :in exclusive- 
ly hard-money currency, there must be the same distinc- 
tions in society that exist in all hard-money countres— » 
those who arc poor must be rendered more ^o^ and m.isa» 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 179 

ty and degradation entailed upon them and their posteriiy. 
Ye laboring men, who are politically honest, do you wish 
the wages of labor red'iced to six or eight cents a day, 
to be reduced in comfort, below the beasts of burthen, 
which are generally well fed nnd housed? Do you wish 
to see the bread, meat, fowl and fish, produced by your 
labor served on the tables of ihe rich and potent, and you 
fed upon husks and chaffi^ If so, vote for those who ad- 
vocate an exclusively hard-money currency. 

It has been said that Mr. Jefferson pronounced a Nation- 
al Bank, unconstitutional. There is not in his inaugural 
address, in his communications to Congress, or in his me- 
moirs, prepared by him for the press a short time previous 
10 his death, a senence in support of such declaration; bat 
there can be found positive proof to the contrary, as the 
following: 

*'An act supplementary to the act entitled an act to incor- 
porate the subscribers to the Bank of the United 
States: 

Be it enacted, &c.. That the president and directors of 
the Bank of the United States shall be and they are here- 
by authorized to establish offices of discount and deposite 
in any part of the territories or dependencies of the United 
States, in the manner, and on the terms prescribed by the 
act to which this is a supplement. 

^'Approved, March 23, 1804. 

Th. Jefferson. '' 
To avoid the force of the foregoino;, it has been said 
that as a bank was established, Mr. Jefferson could consis- 
tently sanction a bill for a branch, though he believed it 
unconstitu'ional. Such an argument would scaicely be 
excusable if used by an enemy to Mr. Jefferson ; but to 
come from professed friends, is cruel. The re^l friends 
of Mr. Jefferson ask for proof, before they can believe that 
he pronounced a National B ink unconstiturional. If the 
mother bank was unconstitutional, the children, in e, th# 



180 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIIXM* 

branch banks, raust have been illegitimates, and two or 
more wrongs cannot make a right. 

The following extrncts of a letter from Col. Monroe to 
Silas E. Burrows, dated New York, January 20, 1831 are 
worthy of an attentive perusal. It is the language of a man 
whose sound judgment and political insegrity and devotion 
to his country were never questioned. Bear in mind the 
date of the letter, being the year previous to president 
Jackson's veto. 

''You ask me what is my opinion of the effect which the 
United States Bank has on the national Currency, and as 
to the policy of renewing its charter? What the situation 
of the government ivithoutits aid du.ing the late w^ar? — 
What its general advantages in regulating exchanges, in 
facilitating remittances to individuals, and its general im- 
portance? 

''When the old United States Bank was first instituted, 
I was one of those w^ho voted against it in the vSenate. I 
doubted the power of the government, under the Constitu- 
tion, to make such an establishment, and was fearful that 
the influence which it would give to the government over 
the monied concerns of the Union would have a very im- 
proper effect upon our free system. The Bank was insti- 
tuted soon after the government was adopted, and at a 
period when the question of the relative powers of the 
government excited great feeling, and divided the Con- 
gress of the Union into very jealous and violent parlies* 
I was of that party which construed the powers of the na- 
tional government strictly, and sought to impose upon it 
correspondent restraint. So far as any change has since 
taken place in my opinion^ it has been the result of experi- 
encCy and prompted by a belief that such change loould 
give strength to the system^ andnot iveaken or endanger it* 

* * ^ * "The revenue of a government is 
generally limited to certain specified objects, according to 
aa estimate for each, and to which it is appropriated. The 



I^OLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, ISI 

funds raised sometimes fall short of the object. It seldom 
exceeds it in any considerable amount. For the want of 
an appropriation, it mast lie idle in the Treasury until ap- 
propriated ; and if appropriated a provision — for an emer- 
gency of war, for example — it must still lie idle in the 
Treasury until that event occurs, or be loaned out. It 
could not lie idle ; the whole nation would revolt against 
it ; and if loaned out, it might be impossible to obtain it 
when called for, and might even be lost, 

# * * <c^ National Bank occupies a differ- 
ent ground. Connected with the government by its char- 
ter and its capital, which consists of stcxjk, in which the 
government participates m a certain degree, there is no 
instance in which, on principle, there can be a difference 
of interest between them, and many powerful considera- 
tions by which the interest of the bank must stimulate it 
to support the credit of the government in any situation 
in which it may be placed. If the credit of the stock sink, 
the capital of the bank would decline in equal degree^ the 
effect of which would be felt in all its operations. S End- 
ing at the head of the monied operations of the govern- 
ment, it is its intermediate agent in making remittances to 
banks and individuals, from which much credit and influ- 
ence are gained, if not profit. It has the means, and may 
be considered the most powerful agent in raising and sus- 
taining the circulating medium on a par with specie 
throughout the Union, and of elevating the siate banks to 
that standard, by subjecting them to the necessity of reach- 
ing and adhering to it, to sustain iheir credit, and even 
their existence. Let the credit of the government sink, 
and all these advan ages are lost. The bank, therefore, 
from a regard to interest, is bound to sustain it. The di- 
rectors, except the few appointed by government, are elec- 
ted by ihe stockholders, and are amenable to them. It 
gives its support, therefore, to the government on princi- 
ples of national policy^ in the support of which it is inter* 



182 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 

ested, and would disdain becoraing an instrument for any 
other purpose. 

"The view above presented is supported by experience^ 
and particulaly by the events of the war. When the war 
commenced, ihe government had not the funds which 
were necessary to support it, and was ifi consequence forc- 
ed to reson to lo ms which were with difficulty obtained 
from any quarter, even in limited degree, and on unfavor- 
able terms. I have not the official documents before me^ 
and cannot state the sources from which any loans were 
obtained, nor the conditions, with the dt^eline of the pub- 
lic credit as the war advanced. I well remember, how- 
ever, that when I was called by the president to the De- 
partment of War, on 31st August, 1814, the certificates 
of the Treasury were selling at $80 in the $100, by which 
$20 were lost. 

* * ^ * "This proves that until the Union is 
threatened with ruin, no loans can be obtained in emer- 
geneies, without a National Bank, otherwise than at a 
great sacrifice. These considerations led to a change in 
my opinion, and led rae to concur with the president in 
the propriety of instituting such a Bank, after the conclu- 
sion of the war in 1816. As to the constitutional objec- 
tion, it formed no serious obstacle. In votinof af^ainst it 
in the first insinnce, I was governed essentiaHy by policy. 
The construction I gave to the Constitution I considered 
a strict one. In the 1 »tter instance, it was more liberal^ 
but according to my judgment, justified by its power.'' 

Candour, po-litical honesty, a sound jijdgment Hud stu- 
dious habits were leading traits in the qualifications of 
president Monroe, and were appreciated by the people. — 
Although liis mind was less brilliant than ?hose of some 
of the presidents, he was not surpassed by any in weight 
of character, except, only, the Father of his country, who, 
for every thing great and good was never surpassed by 
any man. The testiniony of the Hon. Thorxxas H. Bea^ 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 183 

ton, in support of a National Bank, will here be appropri- 
ate. Whenever a man voluntarily testifies against him- 
self, he is entitled to credit for all he says, and the writer 
hopes that the reader will give credit to the testimony and 
impartially w^eigh it. In a speech delivered in the Senate 
of the United States, 14th of March, 1838, Mr. B. said : 

gr^^^The second Bank was brought forward, in the ex- 
tremity of their distresa^ by 'he republican administration, 
to help ihem out of the mud and mire of a broken bank 
currency, and to aid them in the operations of the gov- 
ernment."^ 

The mud and miie commenced accumulating immedi- 
ately after the rejection of the bill for renewing the first 
Bank, in 1811. What would be said of a man who, af- 
ter having been by a benefactor taken from the "mud and 
mire" — sived by his friend from impending ruin — placed 
upon solid ground — would turn against his benefactor and 
slay him ? 

^ Col. Benton stands at the head of the hard-money por- 
tion of his f>arty, and he shall be heard on that subject. — 
In a letter dated Springfield, June 1, 1839, he says: 

"The richest countries in the world, such as Hollnnd, 
the Hansen tic towns, Cuba, &c., have no paper money at 
all. France has none under one hundred dollars, and Eng- 
land hns none under twenty-five dollars, and all these 
countries, especially France and the three former, have 
an overfiowing abundance of gold and silver, not only 
enough for their own uses, but to lend to all foreign na- 
tions, and that at the low rate of four or five p^r cent, per 
annum." 

The foregoing is, doubtless, as true a statement, as far 
as it goes, as could be given. It is lo be regret ed, how- 
ever, that she hard-money philanthropist forgot, or had not 
room on his shee^, to state that in those hard-money coun- 
tries in which money is loaned to foreign nations — gt^not 
to iadividualsc:^ — the gold, silver and copper are locked 



184 POLITICAL EQt/ILlMltM. 

up in the vaults of the government and the pockets of the 
otficers of state and a comparatively few wenlthy individ- 
uals more or less connected with the government; that 
the laboring classes, constituting the raajonty, have to 
work from twelve to sixteen hours each day, at wages 
sufficient only to sustain life on low and coarse diet, and 
are reduced to the lowest grade of ignorance, poverty and 
servility ; that few have a sous in their pocke 9 on Mon- 
day morning, and that that will certainly be the case in 
the U. States, should it become a hard -money country 
and have money to lend to '[foreign nations at your or 
Jive per cent. In the United S ates, as yet, the money be- 
longs to the great body of the people, and circulates among 
them; in all the hard-money countries, the money is own- 
ed by the few; ihe many can only sustain life by hard 
labor. 

The sentiments of mankind are formed, in whole or to 
a great exten!, from circumstances. A hard-money philan- 
thropist, standing wi h his arms gracefullv folded, beholds 
a teamster seated on a horse, with a whip in his hand, 
driving and governing a te^m of horses harnessed and 
drawling a loaded car; the strength of one of \he horses is 
many limes greater than that ot the driver, yet the animals 
are harnessed and well broken to servility, and the crack 
of the whip produces obedience. So, in a hard-money 
country, an ofiicer or nobleman stands with a sword or 
whip in his hand; the laboring classes are unarmed, un- 
educated, ignorant of their rights, and in many cases so 
degraded as to have no ^tlier ambition than to obey iheir 
oppressors. If the great body of the people of the United 
States, who are intelligent, who neither seek or desire of- 
fice, whose honest principles are in a line with their inter- 
ests, who have no motive to deceive, and whose hearts, 
if examined, would not present a speck of dishonesty, do 
not select representatives with strict regard lo measures, 
competency, faithfulness and honestj, it is more than proh- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 185 

able that we shall soon be blessed or cursed with a hard- 
money currency and the government have money to lend 
to "foreign naiions at 4 or 5 per cent, per annum," and the 
laboring classes and their posterity reduced to a level with 
the laboring classes of other hard-money countries. 

The number of Banks should be limited as near as pos- 
sible to the most useful point, avoiding the extreme. If 
there was danger that the fulcrum and lever power of the 
late Bank would overturn the government, its destruction, 
which gave rise to five hundred additional Banks, great- 
ly increased the danger apprehended. The Philistines 
succeeded in capturing Samson, but it was to them a dear 
victory ; and in their attempt to degrade him and make 
sport, they exposed their folly. Just so by vetoing the 
Bank. The policy flooded the coun'ry with a vicious 
currency, generally called ''shinplasters." Instead of re- 
building the toiver^ an opposite experiment — the Sub- 
Treasury — was recommended, honestly, no doubt, but 
w^hich, if carried out, would have certfiinly brought us to 
a hard-money currency, as that currency only was to be 
received in payment ot dues to the government, after a 
specified tim.e. The money collected could not be paid 
out until appropriated and called for ; consequently, large 
sums would frequently be locked up, withheld from cir- 
culation, and no equivalent circulated in its place. — 
As^ainst the operation of such a policy the people ''would 
revolt 'y^^ it could only be enforced by military power, and 
could not be carried into operation and continued long 
through the ballot-box. If the principle which destroyed 
the Bank — its powei' — was carried out, the whole human 
family would commence assasinating each other, on the 
ground of self-preservation. Everyman possesses the 
power to commit murder, but it does not follow that every 
man possesses a disposition equ 1 to his power to assas- 
sinate. It is to the interest of a National Bank to support 
the government, as certainly as it is to the mterest of the 



186 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

farmer to cultivate his land. Mr. Monroe's objection to 
a National Bank, in the first place, was that it would 
make the government too strong — not that it would weak- 
en it. Experience proved to him that the government and 
the people required such an institution, and, in the true 
spirit of a philanthropist, he yielded to the teaching of 
experience. 

Where there are no mnximum laws, the produce of the 
earth and the w^ages of h^^bor are generally, as much the 
standards by whi^h the value of depreciated paper is fix- 
ed as is the specie standard. If, for instance, we had a 
paper currency, depreciated ten, twenty, thirty per cent., 
or more, below the s; ecie stand ird, it would, generally, 
be about as much depreciated below the standard of wa- 
ges or the value of produce. As the depreciation is gen- 
erally gradual, if the circulation is rapid, and the paper 
depreciates fifty per cent* below par, taking specie, w^ages 
of labor, or produce, as the standard, no individual, prob- 
ably, w^ould lose more than from one lO two percent, dur- 
ing its downward value, except those only, who had no 
immediate use for it; such as merchants and others who 
have payments to make every three or six months, &c. — 
But those who receive it in small sums, and immediately 
passed it off in the payment of small debts, in the pur- 
chase of provisions or other necessaries, w'ould seldom 
sustain a real loss of more tljan one or two per cent., and 
might be benefitted to an equal or greater extent in the 
facility of procuring it. Not so with merchants who had 
to keep it on hands for months, some of whom w^ould 
make such long steps in descending the ladder as to break 
their necks, whilst others would descend w4 h ease and 
safety. When down to a miniimtm its comparative val- 
ue would be settled and the holders could not lose, but 
might gain by an advance in its value. 

Soon after the declaration of war, in 1812, the Banks 
generally suspended specie payments — a few of the eas- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 187 

tern banks were the only exceptions, and they, generally, 
withdrew their notes from circulation. The amount of 
specie in the country whs generally estimated at sixty- 
five millions, and many believed that the actual amount 
was less. The g-overnment resorted to direct taxation, 
issuing of treasury notes, and loans to raise money to sup- 
port the war ; ali of which was received in paper, with 
few exceptions, and in compar tively small sums. The 
ascertained debt created by the war, on the last day of 
Sept., 1815, was a little over eighty-five millions, and 
the claims of Massachusetts and other states, which were 
afterwards presented and allowed, swelled the amount 
several millions of dollars^ Now if the government had 
wholly rejected paper money, and dealt wholly in coin, 
the collection of the direct tnx would have produced gen- 
eral distress and wide-spread ruin, and ii is doubtful wheth- 
er it could have been collecie;! in coin by any possible 
means. And to have raised loans amounting to nearly 
ninety millions of dollars in s[)ec!e could not have been 
effected bv any means. Noiwihstanding the loss on the 
discount upon treasury notes, which were exchanged for 
bank paper, the high rate of interest paid on loans of pa- 
per money, it w.'S much better than to have distressed 
and ruined a brave and p itriotic people in a fruitless at- 
tempt to raise the necessary sunis of money in coin. The 
entire national debt after the conclusion of the late war, 
including ihe debt at its commencement, was about one 
hundred and thirty millions. In 1816 a national bank was 
established, affording a paper currency equivalent to spe- 
cie, and sometimes ai a premium ; the state Banks were 
kept within wholesome bounds, imtil a war was waged 
against the National Baik; and, in about twenty years 
after the conclusion of the war, the whole national debt 
was paid off without producing pressure. 

Can any unprejudiced man believe that such benefits and 
blessings could have been produced without the aid of 



188 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

banking institutions? Compare the condition of our coun- 
try, when we were overwhelmed by suspensions, with the 
condition of hard-money countries, and the comparison 
will be in favor of the United States, almost beyond the 
power of description. Next compare the currency and 
condition of our country during the existence of the late 
National Bank with that of hard-money countries, and, if 
the mind can act free from prejudice, the difference in fa- 
vor of the United States may be conceived, in proportion 
to our imaginations and senses, bat cannot be accurately 
described. 

Money is represented as ihe sinew of war, and indispen- 
sable for the support of government in peace or war. But 
if we restrict the term money to coin, u is not indispensa- 
bly necessary in all countries, either to maintain a war or 
to support government. In point of fact, there is no more 
intrinsic value in gold than in iron. The value attached 
to gold is attributable, principally, to its scarcity. Gold 
is less portable than paper, and, in many cases, is incon- 
venient ; but it is less destructible, and its comparative 
scarcity has rendered it more valuable than iron. If the for- 
mer were as abundant as the latter, iron would be the more 
useful, and w^ould, consequently, be of more value than 
gold. 

A papercurrency carried ihe patriots of Americathrough 
the revolution ; and paper was almost the exclusive cur- 
rency in the United States during the war of ^12. As the 
United States produce a superabundance of provisions, 
arms, ammunition, and every thing necessary for clothing 
andequi};»ping the military on land and sea, ihe government 
could prosecute a war with any naiion whatever, w'ith as 
great effect, ^f there w^ere not a single piece of coin within 
the limits of the country, as it could do if in possession of 
the desired amount of coin; but not without inconvenience. 
The amount of paper issued by thegovernment, under such 
circumstances, and not returned to the government in the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 1S9 

payment of taxes or debts, would constitute the amount of 
the national debt. Specie is the s andard; gold and silver 
are only recognized by the Constitution as a lawful tender 
in individual business transactions and the writer would be 
as much opposed as any man to making anything but spe- 
cie a lawful tender, except under extreme cases, required 
as the only means of preservation. Under such circum- 
stances, the government would be justifiable in resorting 
to, and enforcing, a pa[)er currency, upon the principle of 
a loan to be liquidated by coin or its equivalent. 

The writer will not assert that banking institutions could 
be so organized as to render temporary suspension impos- 
sible under all circumstances; nor that a house could be so 
built as always to resist the elements; but he does say the 
former can be so organized as to render suspension im- 
probable, and the redemption of their notes in specie or 
its equivalent, without loss to the holder, as certain as any 
result produced by human agency. 

Banks are necessary and convenient to all classes of the 
people, and enable men of small capital to compete with 
individuals of large capital, and check, if not wholly over- 
come, the power of wealthy individuals over the commu- 
nity. Banks are as necessary to preserve our republican 
form of government in its purity, and to perpetuate that 
wholesome mutation by which property is daily passing 
from those who were born rich to those who were born 
poor, as is food necessary to support life. It is true that 
we cannot live without food, but we can live without Banks 
as is proven that people do live in the hard-money coun- 
iries spoken of by Colonel Benton. But it is not true that 
the people in those hard- money countries live under repub- 
lican governments, and that property is daily passing from 
those who were born rich to those v/ho were born poor^ 
and that all property changes owners every fifteen or twen- 
ty years as is the case in the United States, A glutton 
who had become sick by overeating, and who would re- 



190 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

solve never to eat again, would not act more absurd than 
do those who, having by imprudent measures increased 
Banks so far as to produce teiuporary evils, attempt to an* 
nihilate them. Rea<?on and moderation are prelerable to 
extremes and extravagance. 

Every institution or establishment requires a head or 
principal to manage, govern and regulate it throughout all 
its branches. Comuiencing with edticational institutions, 
we observe in the organization of a University, ahead or 
principal to each branch, without which the arrangement 
would be so imperfect that disorder and confusion w^ould 
be unavoidable. Descending from the University through 
the minor institutions, we arrive at the log cabin school- 
house in the country, and find the pedagogue at the head 
of the institution — to teach the young idea how to shoot.'* 
Next to government; — the President of the United States, 
stands at the head of the nation ; and though his powers 
are defined and restricted by the constiiution, he is, nev- 
theless, the most prominent and conspicuous officer of the 
federal government. To each branch of die governmeni 
there is a head; but the President towers over all of them. 
Each State has a Governor, who is the principal officer 
or head of the Siate. The category would be continued 
with reference to other institutions, factories, and down to 
private families, to each of which a head or principal is 
necessary to produce harmony ; but something should be 
left for the considei'ation of the reader who may be more 
intelligent than the writer, and he will return to Banking 
institutions. 

If, as will be admitted, the institutions and establish- 
ments specified and refLTiTcl to, have each a head, princi- 
pal or regulator, of a mora! or mechanical character, it 
seems reasonable that Bankintr institutions require a simi- 
lar organization; a head and regulator. If we throw aside 
the besetting sin of parly an<l consult reason and the teach- 
ings of experience with the single motive of promoting the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 19l 

general good ; and with that calmness which an astrono- 
mer would calculate the period of an eclipse, we may ar- 
rive at a satisfactory conclusion. The reader on referring 
to the statistical table on page 173, may after a critical ex- 
amination come to a correct conclusion. It may be said, 
and with truth too, that we have had since the first of Jan- 
uary 1846 a national bank, generally known as the Sub- 
treasury, and we ha e many millions of Treasury notes a- 
float, though not in general circulation ; millions of paper 
money issued by an administration which goes for hard- 
money in its receipts. If the federal government contin- 
ues a policy which will secure the |)ermanency of a heavy 
National debt, there will be no specie to lock up in the 
Sub- treasury, and the salaries of ihe bank officers, will 
only amount to an item in the great aggregate of expense. 
But if the nation was cle r of debt, and a surplus revenue 
of forty-one millions of dollars, or more, locked up in this 
independent government bank, the people, with the ex- 
ception of office holders, would feel its pressure; in the 
language of Mr. Monroe 'Mhe whole nation would revolt 
against it." Compare Mr. Monroe's seniiments with Gen. 
Jackson's pages 169-'70. L might produce a national 
blessing if a copy of all the official communications of 
Gen. Jackson were in the hands of evtry man who would 
read them ; he said many sensible things. 

It is believed that the Slate Banks are generally in a 
sound condition, and deserving of confidence, notwith- 
stmding they are discredited by the federal government 
and its Sub-Treasury Bank. But the notes of none of 
the State Banks are equivalent to specie throughout the 
Union; the issues of most of them are at a discount, at 
the distance of a hundred miles from home. Now the 
question is proposed, would, or would not, a pa}>er cur- 
rency, equivalent to specie throughout the country, be a 
great convenience and solid hetieiit to all classes of the 
people, from the wholesale merchant to the daily laborer I 



192 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

The objection to the former U. States Banks that, they 
were dangerous to the liberties of the people, will apply 
with equal, if not greater force to the present National 
Sub-Treasury Bank, which may oppress the great body 
of the people; but cannot benefit them. Its great benefits 
and blessings are confined to the officers who manage it, 
to the amount of their salaries and no further. The di- 
vorcing of the government from the banks, is a bold step 
towards divorcing the government, as far as possible, from 
the body of the people. The federal government should 
fraternize with the people and their institutions. The more 
the spirit of the people is infused in the government, the 
greater will be the benefits which will flow from it ; in a 
word, the will of the people, expressed ihrough their rep- 
resentatives, in accordance vvidi the mode prescribed by 
the constitution, should he the governing principle. 



CHAPTER VI. 

On Protective Duties and National Economj. 

Hon. JOHN T. MASON. 

The writer will next review a speech delivered by Mr. 
Mason in the House of Representatives, July, 1842, in 
opposition to the protective system. Not that he consid- 
ers it the ablest speech that he has read upon the subject,, 
but he considers it equal to any, and he is one of Mr. Ma- 
son's constituents * Cherishing a high personal respect 
for Mr. Mason, but differing with him politically, the 

*When the first Edition of thia work was puplished, Mr. Mason war 
ft member of Cong-res»^i 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 193 

writer would not make any reference to that gentleman's 
speech, were it not that, from the relative position of rep- 
reseniative and constituent, silence might be considered 
disrespectful. Mr, Mason was chosen, at the first elec- 
tion after his age rendered him eligible, a representative 
to Congress, As young birds, just fledged, are eager to 
soar as high as the towering eagle, unaware of the dan- 
ger which surrounds them, Mr. Mason was emulated by a 
laudable ambition to give such a developement of the 
power of his mind and genius, in prose and poetry, as 
would meet the expectation of his political friends. The 
substance of his arguments in opposition to the protection 
of American industry, appears to be concentrated in the 
quotation which follows:-— 

^'Do the people believe that the tariff frees us from tax- 
ation altogether? Surely not! Though no tax-gatherers sur- 
round their houses, yet upon almost every article that they 
use or wear, they pay a tax in the shape of duties. It has 
been oft and oft asserted that duties do not raise the price 
of articles. Two gentlemen (Mr. Thompson of Indiana 
and Mr. Barnard^ of New York) labored hard and ably 
to prove this position. They rely upon facts as worth more 
than arguments, I am free to admit that facts have shown 
that the price of articles has not been raised with laying 
duties upon them. Tliis is not, however, universally the 
case. But can these gentlemen, or any one else show how 
the laying of duties can have any such effect? It is said we 
have only to do with the fact, and not with how the fact is 
produced. They mistake the cause. The explanation of the 
fact that the price of an article is not always increased, or 
is sometimes diminished simultaneously w^ith the laying of 
the duty upon it, is not because a duty is laid upon it, 
but it is owing to the coincidence that the demand for that 
article is diminished, or its supply increased, in the same 
or in a greater proportion than the duty laid upon it. -^ 
When the price of an article is thus effected, take away 

N 



194 POLITICAL EQUILIBRItTM. 

the duty, and it will receive a further fall to the same ex* 
tent of the duty precisely. But it may be said that the 
laying of duties effects the supply and demand. If this 
be true, no one has attempted to show it, nor can any one 
show it. Articles are referred to, and, with an air of tri- 
umph, we are told that their entire price is less even than 
the duty upon the article. This is very often true. But is 
it not easily seen, that in such cases the duty is inopera- 
tive? It has been raised so high as to amoimt to an entire 
exclusion of the article from abroad — to a prohibition. — 
You may, then, pile upon it as much duty as you please 
and you cannot affect it. The price is entirely regulated 
by our home supply. It is not necessary lor me to add 
that, when such results are produced, revenue ceases, at 
least from that quarter. It is absurd to contend that when 
an anicle of foreign production enters into our home con- 
sumption, and thereby becomes a legitimate object of tax- 
ation, it is not affected by the duties which may be impos- 
ed upon it. It is, and just to the amount of the duty. — 
Were it not so, we would be required to believe that a man 
might pay his taxes, and make money by the transaction. 
I wish some one of my colleagues, friendly to this meas- 
ure, v/ould introduce into Maryland such a system, by 
which, in paying off a little debt of fifteen millions, they 
would grow richer. I have heard, sir, of many a way of 
making money, but this is really the newest and most ap- 
proved mode — that of makmg money by paying taxes. — 
It is well, sir, if it be true; for as, Shakespeare says, 

"Nothing ccnies amiss, so money comes withal." 

Again: How does this iheory affect the protective system? 
Why, if it be true, it would break down the whole policy. 
It is the very foundation of the system that duties raise the 
price of imported articles; and, in the same proportion, ex- 
clude them, and give place for home manufactured articles. 
If this be not the case, how can a tariff operate as a protec- 
tion." 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 195 

The speech of Mr. Mason may be compared to a wilder- 
aesSj rendered beautiful and attractive by its flowering 
shrubbery, which conceals the quicksands, through which 
a man could only pass with great difficulty, after divesting 
himself of baggage. The language and well turned 
periods cannot fail to captivate a man who would mistake 
words for arguments. It has been positively proved that 
the use of stoves has lessened the quantity of fuel previ- 
ously consumed in open fire places without diminishing 
heat and comfort; but it is not contended that stoves could 
be so constructed as to produce heat and comfort without 
consuming any fuel, but causing it to accumulate. What 
would be said in reply to the arguments of a man who 
would assert that the introduction of stoves had not been 
a saving of fuel, and who would found his arguments on 
the self-evident fact that stoves will not produce heat and 
comfort without any fuel? Whatever reply would be ap- 
plicable to such arguments, will apply with equal force to 
all the arguments against a protective tariif. Whilst it has 
been positively proved that protective duties have caused 
some articles to fall in prices, (which is admitted by Mr. 
M., who is not satisfied with facts,) it is not contended 
by any rational man, that a tariff can be so sdjusted as to 
enable any class of our mechanics to furnish their manu- 
factured articles for nothing, and pay a premium for taking 
them off their hands. Mr. Mason's merriment is founded 
in his paradoxical ingenuity ; his premises have no more 
existence, except in imagination, than a poet's Muse, or 
Sancho in the novel of the renowned Cervantes. 

The writer will not repeat the arguments previously used 
in support of protection, but will suppose tv\^o systems in 
farming. Farmers A. and B., being neighbors, own farms 
of equal fertility, and each, for a number of years, seeded 
his ground at the rate of one bushel of Vv'heat to the acre, 
and reaped an average of twenty fold. It occurred to each 
that he could increase the quantity per acre by increasing 



196 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the quantity of seed. Farmer A. reasoned thus: — If one 
bushel of seed will produce twenty bushels to the acre, 
five bushels will produce one hundred. Here he commit- 
ted an error in the principle of peoportion. If one bushel 
to the acre was too little, it did not follow that five were 
not (00 much. He tried ihe experiment, and, to use a com- 
mon phrase, it was too thick to thrive; and instead of 
reaping one hundred bushels to the acre, he did not reap 
five, and they, too, of inferior quality. He then reasoned 
thus; I have lost a crop, but I have discovered the "phil- 
osopher's stone ;^' instead of sowing five times more to 
the acre I should have sown five times less. The ensu- 
ing year, he sowed a peck to the acre, and it was then too 
ihin to support itself and properly occupy the ground, and 
'Hares sprang up and choked it," and the last error of that 
man was worse than the first. He not only lost two crops, 
but the tares and other vicious intruders so poisoned his 
land that it required years of toil to bring it into a healthy 
and productive state. Farmer B. studied ihe principle of 
PROPORTION. He had not a doubt that the product per 
acre could be increased by increasing the proportion of 
seed, but the difficulty was how far he could increase the 
seed per acre without destroying an equilibrium. He at 
length decided upon five pecks to the acre, and he leaped 
twenty-five bushels to the acre, being an increase upon 
arithmetical principles. He gained, not only by increas- 
ing the quantity of grain, but he increased the quantity of 
straw in the same proportion, and thereby increased the 
quantity of food for his cattle, and they, in return, furnish- 
ed a larger portion of manure, which he spread upon his 
land and increased its fertility. Disclaiming anything of- 
fensive, might not farmer A. be compared to a democrat 
opposing a protective tarijfF under any circumstances what- 
ever ; and B. to a whig supporting a tariff suited to sur- 
rounding circumstances, so balanced and proportionsd as 
to produce an equilibrium? The writer could continue this 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 197 

simpk process of reasoning; but having advanced princi- 
ples which he thinks cannot be refuted, he submits to the 
candor of the reader to draw conclusions. He would quote 
Mr. Mason's speech at full lengih, if he believed that jus- 
tice to him required it. The lengthy quotation made, ap- 
pears to him, to be a correct recapitulation of all Mr. Ma- 
son's arguments against protection, and the substance of 
all the arguments he ever read or heard upon that side of 
the question. He submits to the candid reader whether 
the subject ought not to be examined without regard to 
party politics. All the arguments in opposition to a pro- 
tective, not an oppressive tariff may be compared to a 
sleeveless garment without a body! Suppose the people of 
this county who employ mechn nics were to purchase shoes, 
boots and hats from those residing in a neighboring coun- 
ty, would not such a course be illiberal and ungenerous 
towards the mechanics of this county? Is not the pref- 
erence given to foreign mechanics a serious injury not 
only to our own but to all classes of society? The ques- 
tions are worthy of most serious and impartial consider- 
ation. 

Mr. Mason, is a talented and prominent member of the 
Calhoun wing of the modern democracy ; one of the lead- 
ers of the forlorn hop.e. But he is located too near Mason 
and Dixon's line, to render much aid to the great South- 
ern nullifier, in his efforts to carry r^ut hio diui-tariff, anti- 
protective and Qiiti-American policy. iV portion of the 
modern democracy in Western Maryland, are sane upon 
the tariff question ; whilst those more South, with some 
exceptions, stand in opposition to the policy of Mr. 
Jefferson and the republican party, on that, and almost 
every other important question. If Mr. Mason resided in 
South Carolina, where, comparatively fe w ever saw a spin- 
ing wheel or loom, his talents in connection with his anti- 
protective free trade policy, would be appreciated by the 
politically insane democracy of that palmy region. 



198 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIITM. 

Mr. Mason, is a lawyer and a farmer; though, not a 
practical cultivator in the general understanding of the 
terra. A farm with the family and hands engaged in its 
cultivation, represents, in part, a nation in miniature. And 
as Mr. Mason is sane upon all subjects unconnected with 
national policy, he must be aware of the rule or principle 
of PROPORTION in seeding his land; — that if he sowed five 
bushels of wheat to the acre he would not reap as much 
as from one bushel ; and that, if he sowed only a peck to 
the acre he would be unsuccessful also. This rule of pro- 
portion, so necessary in farming, should be obsen^ed and 
properly applied in the details of a tariff.. The prosperity 
or adversity of the United States may not depend as much 
upon a tariff, as the crops of a farm depend upon the pro- 
portion of grain seeded per acre ; but the advancement o? 
depression of our national and individual condition de- 
pendsj to a great extent upon the tariff system. There 
are few measures, if any, not of a belligerant character, by 
which the w^hole business of the country could be so much 
affected as that of the tariff. The Hon. John C. Calhoun, 
is the poliiical Pope of the ''Free Trade" anti-tariff, anti- 
prosperity aad anti-American division of the modern fledg- 
ed democracy, and Mr. Mason one of the Arch Bishops. 
Eariy impressions are generally lasting, and Mr. Mason 
^IroaJy stands at the head of one of the grand divisions 
.of a heterogeneous paiij, Koretofore united at the ballot 
boxes, by the cohesive power of a party name. Antago- 
nistical measures and principles, have been looked upon 
as minor and unimportant considerations, when compared 
with the political surname of the brotherhood. The ven- 
erated n?ime of de7nocr at expands from North to South, 
and constitutes a ''^platform," long enough and broad 
enough for all the conflicting divisions and sub-divisions to 
stand upon and compromises measures and principles, — 
Every good democrat of the modern revised order, for the 
sake of harmonyj will cheerfully sacrifice measures, prin- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 1&9 

ciples and every thing but the name^ which constitutes the 
soul and body of the party. It would be as impossible to 
unite the pseudo democracy upon any important subject, 
except thai of the namey as it would be to make ropes out 
of sand. 



CHAPTER VII. 

On Protective Duties and National Economy. 

Hon. JOHN C. CALHOUN. 

The Hon. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, deliv- 
ered a speech, in the Senate on the 5;h of August, in which 
he, like Mr. Mason, took a one-sided view of the subject. 
He is as versatile in his political sentiments and judgment 
as he is fruitful in imagination; and as he has been for and 
against almost every important measure of the government, 
for the last thirty years, he would seldom be quoted for au- 
thority were it not for his great weight of moral character. 
It is to be regretted that Mr. Calhoun has never compar- 
ed his conflicting sentiments upon important subjects, and 
tried to prove that he had shaped his policy in accordance 
with that of foreign nations and surrounding circumstan- 
ces, or have candidly acknowledged that his mind had un- 
dergone a change. But no instance, it is believed, can 
be produced in which Mr. Calhoun acknowledged that 
his sentiments had undergone a change, or gave any ex 
planation. 

In 1816, Mr. Calhoun was a high tariff man. Th« 
same year he was the champion of a national bank, and 
has subsequently exultingly spoke of his exertions in es- 



200 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 

tablishing the United States Bank. Same year, on his 
motion, a resolution was amended so as to receive bank 
notes in payment of public dues. 

1838 — He declared it to be unconstitutional to receive 
bank notes in payment of public dues. 

1837 — Believes a national bank dangerous and uncon- 
stitutional. 

1816 — Advocates the internal improvement systeui.^ 

1828- — Is opposed to the same. 

1832 — Declares the tariff unconstitutional, and resorts 
to nullification. 

1828 — Is elected vice-president on the Jackson ticket. 

1831— '2 — Gave the casting vote, as vice-president, to 
recall Mr. Van Burenfrom England, and nullify his nom- 
ination, by President Jackson, as minister. 

1834 — Is a violent enemy to Gen. Jackson and Mr. 
Van Buren, and acts with the whigs against them. 

1837 — Is violently opposed to the sub-treasury — reco- 
ommended by Van Buren at the extra session of that year 
— ^and to a repeal of the distributation act. 

At the ensuing annual session of Congress, supports 
the sub-treasury and advocates a repeal of the distribution 
act previously recommended by president Jackson. 

1838 — Advocates the administration of Mr. Van Buren 
and continues his support throughout his administra- 
tion. 

1841 — Votes for a bill, previously introduced by him- 
self, to cede the whole of the public lands to the states in 
which they are located. 

1842 — Votes against a bill to distribute the proceeds 
of the lands among all of the states. [Upon Mr. Calhoun's 
principle, it is morally wrong to transfer the public lands 
to all the states, but right and proper to transfer them to 
a part of the states.] 

The foregoing is a summary of the prominent tergiver- 
sations of Mr. Calhoun^ who is as changeable as the wind 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 201 

and unstable as water. Such, however, is his weight of 
moral character, that he is termed the ''honest nullifier," 
and his sincerity is not called into question. As we are 
now discussing the protective system, and as the elo- 
quence and talents of Mr. Calhoun have been employed 
for and against the policy, it is worthy of consideration 
which side of the question is orthodox ; one or the other 
is heterodox. Upon abstract principles, Mr. Calhoun's 
testimony for and against protection is enitled to equal 
credit. After denouncing the tariff of 1828 as the bill of 
abominations, and the one under consideration as "more 
onerous," and indulging in flippant denunciations, he ba- 
ses himself upon ihe following premises : 

"On all articles on which duties can be imposed, there 
is a point in the rate of duties which may be called the 
maximum point of revenue — that is, a point at which the 
greatest amount of revenue would be raised. If it be ele- 
vated above that, the importation of the article Vv-ould fall 
off more rapidly than the duty would be raised; and if 
depressed below it, the reverse effect would follow : that 
is, the duty would decrease more rapidly than the impor- 
tation would increase." 

The foregoing premises are admitted, in their general 
application, though they may not be strictly correct upon 
arithmetical principles. It is now worthy of considera- 
tion whether it is not practicable to arrive at a maximum 
point of duties upon some articles, if not all, which would 
throw the payment upon the producer instead of the con- 
sumer, as is argued by the opponents of protection. — 
The framers of the constitution did not consider import 
and export duties as equivalents. In the 1st Art., Sec. 9, 
is a clause in the following words: "No tax or duty shall 
be laid on articles exported from any state." No individ- 
ual will suffer his surplus productions of any kind to per- 
ish on his hands, if he can sell them for more than the cost 
of sending them to market ; and the price must, iuvaria- 



202 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

bly, be governed by quantity, demand and the ability to 
pay for them. A duty may readily be laid on any article 
so high as to amount to prohibition, or to impose the pay- 
ment of a part, but not all, of the duty upon the consum- 
er. Upon the same principle, a duty may be laid so ju- 
diciously as to impose the payment on the producers. — 
Those who cross ferries pay the toll, for which ihey re- 
ceive no equivalent except that of being transferred to the 
opposite shore at a desired point. The ferriage might be 
so high as to force travelers to avoid them, seek other 
crossings or stay on their own side of the water. There 
is a maximum point which ought to be based upon recip- 
rocal interest, having due regard to the general good and 
public welfare. The whole people of our confederacy 
should be considered as a national family, and their vari- 
ous wants and interests properly provided for. We have 
no right to control the internal civil policy of foreign na- 
tions; neither are we morally bound to promote their in- 
terest to the injury of our own. Mr. Calhoun next as- 
serts : — 

^^But there never yet has been devised a scheme of 
emptying the pockets of one portion of the community in- 
to those of the other, however unjust or oppressive, for 
which plausible reasons could not be fouud; and, few have 
been so prolific of such as that under consideration. — 
Among them, one of the most plausible is that the com- 
petition, which is asked to be excluded, is that of foreign- 
ers. The competition is represented to be between home 
and foreign industry; and he who opposes what is asked, 
is held up as a friend to foreic^n, and the enemy to home 
industry, and is regarded as very little short of being a 
traitor to his country. I take issue on the facr. I deny 
that there is, or can be, any competition between home 
and foreign industry, but through the latter; and assert 
that the real competition, in all cases is, and must be, be- 
tween one branch of home industry and another. To make 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 203 

good the position taken, I rely on a simple fact, which 
none will deny ; — that imports are received in exchange 
for exports. From that, it follows, if there be no export 
trade, there will be no import trade ; and that to cut off 
the exports, is to cut off the imports. It is, then, not ihe 
imports, but the exports which are exchanged for them, 
and without which they would not be introduced at all, 
that causes, in reality, the competition. It matters not 
how low the wages of other countries may be, and how 
cheap their productions, if we have no exports, they can- 
not compete with ours." 

It is to -be regretted that expletives, denunciations, ridi- 
cule, sarcasm, bold assertions and unqualified accusations 
are, with many persons considered potent arguments; and 
the Bible has been denounced a jest book. But the latter 
portion of the quotation is argumentative, and imports and 
exports considered upon the principle of barter, without 
even an effort to prove that low duties on our side would 
be equivalent to high duties on the other side of the water, 
and placed the rule of barter on principles of reciprocity ; 
this would have been an uphill business for Mr. Calhoun, 
and he avoided it. No complaint is made by him to the 
high duties which our exports are subjected to in foreign 
ports. The cotton of the south after passing through the 
gin, is ready for the manufacturer; so are wheat and other 
grain after they pass through threshing and shelling ma- 
chines and fans, prepared for the miller. The population 
uf the United States is in round numbers, seventeen mil- 
lions; and about that number of barrels of flour, or an e- 
quivalent of bread stuff, would be sufficient for the annual 
consumption. The tariff which we pay on our exports to 
to foreign nations, considered upon the principle of barter 
as it is placed by Mr. Calhoun, reduces our exports, upon 
an average, at least one-half. Now the question is, ought 
we to meet this curtail by a corresponding rate of duty? — 
Mr. Calhoun's arguments are in the the negative, upon 



204 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the principle, that foreign nations will only barter with us 
upon the principle of high duties on their part and low 
duties on ours. If this unequal barter is advantageous to 
us, we ought to ship to foreign nations grain, equivalent 
to forty millions of barrels of flour and barter it for bread 
stuff equivalent to hall that amount. So long as theUnited 
States can produce grain to the extent of double the quan- 
tity consumed, the unequal barter could be kept up. — 
What we say upon the article of grain bartered for flour and 
bread stuff, will apply to all articles which we export. — 
The United States are prolific in productions; but it does 
not follow that the vast surplus should be exchanged on 
the unequal principle of barter contended for by the cotton 
planters, to the injuiy and injustice of all other classes of 
citizens. Mr. Calhoun closes his theory upon the rule of 
barter in anticipated triumph. 

''The great popular party is already rallied almost en 
masse around the banner which is leading the party to its 
final triumph. The few that still lag, will soon be rallied 
under its ample folds. On that banner is inscribed: Free 
trade; lov/ duties; separation from banks; economy, 
retrenchment, and strict adherence to the con- 
STITUTION. Victory in such a cause will be great and glo- 
rious; and, if its principles be faithfully and firmly adher- 
ed to, after it is achieved, much will it redound to the 
honor of those by whom it will have been won; and long 
will it perpetuate the liberty and prosperity of the coun- 
try." 

As well might the negroes, ^'whilst WTithing under the 
lash of their "task masters," be told that they are free- 
men, as for the honest nuUifier to tell the people that low 
duties, on our part, will produce free trade, no debt 
and be equivalent to high duties on the part of foreign 
nations, and that it would be to our advantage to give two 
coon skins for one to keep up the trade of barter with for- 
eign powers. The truth is that the honest nullifier is one 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 205 

of the greatest advocates for a protective tariff in the 
Union. But his protective principles are selfiish and sec- 
tional; confined to the cotton growing state. Disclaiming 
anything invidious or disrepectful, but to speak figurative- 
ly, Mr. Calhoun's head is lined with cotton and other soft 
substances which he cannot weave into a fabric, and he 
concludes, that if cotton goods are not admitted at low du- 
ties, the people of the south must do w^ithout clothing.^ — 
In South Carolina there are (as the writer understands 
and believes,) but two general classes of society with the 
exception of an intermediate or connecting class. The 
working class consists of mules and negroes which per- 
form the labor ; the negroes require but little clothing, 
and like their fellow laborers, the mules, subsist on low 
and coarse food. The high order of society constitute the 
land holders, who are intelligent and selfish, advocating 
the protection of raw cotton, upon the principle of admit- 
ting imported cotton fabrics at low duties. The connec- 
ting class consists of overseers, who have sufficient intel- 
ligence to manage the mules and negroes. 

The emperor of Russia is as much opposed to banking 
institutions as is Mr. Calhoun, who, when in the Repub- 
lican track, was the father of the U. S. bank, and made a 
merit in declaring that he done more than any other man 
in the nation to bring it into existence. It w^as approved 
by president Madison, one of the purest republicans and 
enlightened statesmen that the United States ever produc- 
ed. His political talents and philanthropy, like the ra^^s 
of the sun in May, were mild and vivific ; but Mr. Cal- 
houn having descended to perigee, his principles are as bi- 
ting and withering as a north-wester in January. The 
hard- money philanthropists term the working class the 
^bone and sinew,' snd in all hard-money countries the 
bone and sinew are stript of their flesh i. e. they are re- 
duced to ignorance, venality, and degrading servility — 
more wretched than the negroes on the cotton plantations. 



306 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Genuine democracy is invigorating ; spurious democracy 
is withering 



CHAPTER VIII. 

On the Veto Fewer. 

The writer feels less oppressed by diffidence in giving 
his views upon this subject than upon some others ; be- 
cause ever since he took sides in politics, and before he 
was old enough to exercise the right of a voter he was op- 
posed to it; and uniformly so expressed himself on all oc- 
casions when the subject was introduced. The frequent use 
of the power of late years has confirmed him in the cor- 
rectness of his opinion, formed at a period when the veto 
was of rare occurrence. The following condensed histo- 
ry of the origin and progress of the veto power in the U- 
nited States will, it is believed, be interesting to the read- 
er for reference : 

''Upon ihe procedings of the American Colonial Assem- 
blies, there existed a double negative, or veto; one vested 
in the royal Governor, the other in the King. By the Ray- 
al Governors the right was often exercised, and the King 
frequently signified his disallowance of acts which had not 
only passed the Colonial Assemblies, but even sanctioned 
by the Governor. This feature was one strongly set forth 
as a prime grievance, in recounting the injuries and usur- 
pations of the Briiish Monarch, in the declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and its exercise was highly repugnant lo the 
interests of America. 

Dr. Franklin, in the Debates of the Federal Convention, 
thus shows the influence of the veto power under the 
Proprietary Government of Penn : 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 207 

^'The negative of the Governor was constantly made 
use of to extort money. No good law whatever could he 
passed without a private bargain with him. An increase 
of salary, or some donation, was always made a condition; 
till, at last it became the regular practice to have orders in 
his favor on the treasury presented along with the bills lo 
be signed, so that he might actually receive the former 
before he should sign the latter. When the Indians were 
scalping the Western people, and notice of it arrived, the 
concurrence of the Governor in the means of self-defence 
could not be got until it was agreed that his estate should 
be exempted from taxation ; so that the people were to 
fight for the security of his property, whilst he was to have 
no share of the burdens of taxation." 

^'At first sight, then, it appears strange that the fraraers 
of our Constitution, when they were originating a new 
Government, which should combine the experience of the 
past, without borrowing any of its defects, should bring in 
such a power, the operation of which had proved so bane- 
ful, and which had already been so strongly reprobated. 
But such was the fact. The war of the Revolution over, 
the Articles of Confederation alone bound the States to- 
gether, and the re-action which took place in sever- 
al places urgently demanded some new form of compact 
more adequate for the purposes of Government, and more 
consonant with the altered condition of affairs. Upon the 
25th May, 1787, the Federal Convention met in ihe city 
of Philadelphia. Having organized themselves by the 
choice of proper officers, and the adoption of necessary 
niles, Mr. Randolph, of Virginia, opened the business of 
the Convention by proposing, on the 29th of May, a series 
of resolutions, embodying his views as to what the crisis 
required; and on the same day Gen. Charles Pinckney, of 
South Carolina, laid before the Delegates the draught of 
a Federal Government, to be agreed upon between the fr«e 
and independent States of America. The veto power en- 



208 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

tered into the schemes of both these gentlemen, though 
centred by them in different points. The 8th resolution of 
Mr. Randolph says : 

'''Resolved^ That the Executive and a convenient num- 
ber of the National Judiciary ought to compose a Council 
of Revision, with authority to examine every act of the 
National Legislature before it shall operate, and every act 
of a particular Legislature before a negative thereon shall 
be final ; and that the dissent of the said council shall a- 
mount to a rejection, unless the act of the National Leg- 
islature be again passed, or that of a particular Legisla- 
ture be again negatived by of the members of each 

branch." 

The article embracing this feature in the draught of Mr. 
Pinckney reads thus: 

''Every bill which shall have passed the Legislature 
shall be presented to the President of the United States 
for his revision; if he apbroves it, he shall sign it; but if 
he does not approve it, he shall return it, wiih his objec- 
tions, to the House it originated in ; which House, if two- 
thirds of the members present, notw-ithsianding the Pres- 
ident's objections, agree to pass it, shall send it to the 
other House, with the President's objections; where, if 
two-thirds of the members present also agree to pass it, 
the same shall become a law. And all bills sent to the Pres- 
ident, and not returned by him within days, shall be 

laws, unless the Legislature, by their adjournment, pre- 
vent their return, in which case they shall not be law." 

Mr. Randolph's views were evidently based on the sug- 
gestions of Mr. Madison; for that gentleman, in a letter 
to Mr. Randolph, a few Weeks previous, urged the same 
idea of a negative by the National Government, "in all 
cases whatsoever, on the legislative acts of the States, as 
the King of Great Britain heretofore had." 

The resolutions of Mr. Randolph became the basis on 
which the proceedings of the Convention commenced, and, 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 209 

as Mr, Madison says, "to the developments, narrations, 
and modifications of which the plan of Government pro- 
po«!ed by the Convention may be traced." 

Let us, then, follow out the discussions of this body 
until the suggested joint revision of ihe Executive and Ju- 
diciary became altered to the single negative of the Pres- 
ident. On the 4th of June the first clause of Mr. Ran- 
dolph's eighth resolution was taken up — but Mr. Gerry, 
from Massachusetts, doubting whether the Judiciary ought 
to have anything to do with it, moved to postpone the 
clause and introduced the following amendment : 

"That the National Executive shall have a right to neg- 
ative any legislative act w^hich shall not afterwards be 
passed by parts of each branch of the National Legis- 
lature." 

Rufus King from Massachusetts, seconded the motion, 
and the proposition of Mr. Gerry was taken up. Mr. Wil- 
son, of Pennsylvania, and Alexander Hamilton, of New 
York, wished to strike out the latter clause, so as to give 
the Executive an absolute negative on the laws ; but 
though supported by these gentlemen, it was opposed by 
Dr. Franklin, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Madison, 
Butler of South Carolina, and Mason of Virginia — and 
was therefore negatived. 

Mr. Butler and Dr. Franklin then wished to give a sus- 
pending instead of a negative powder; but this was over- 
ruled, and the blank of Mr. Gerry's resolution was filled 
up, subsilentio wixh two -thirds ; and the question being ta- 
ken on the motion, as thus stated, it received the votes 
of eight States, Connecticut and Maryland voting in the 
negative. On the 6th June, according to previous notice, 
Mr. Wilson and Mr. Madison moved to re-consider the 
vote, excluding the Judiciary from a share in the revision 
and the negative of the Executive, with the view of rein- 
forcing the latter wiih the influence of the former. But 
though Mr. Madison ur^ed the plan of associating the 



flO POLITICAL EQUlLIBRItflVf. 

judges in the revisionary function of the Executive, or 
thereby doubling the advantages and dimini.shing \he dan- 
gers, and as enabling the Judiciary better to deJend itself 
againsi legislative encroachments, it was as eloquently 
opposed by Mr. Gerry and orhers, who thought that the 
Executive while standing alone would be more impartial 
than when he could be covered by the sanction and seduc- 
ed by the sophistry of the Judges ; and it was finally rejec- 
ted. Tw^o days after, at the conclusion ot an animated 
debate, the subject of giving the National Legislature a 
negative on the several State laws, which was first sug- 
gested to the Convention by Mr. Randolph's resolutions, 
and subsequently brought up lor reconsideration by Mr. 
Pinckney and Mr. Madison was also voted down, three 
States in the affirmative, seven in the negative, Delaware 
divided. 

On the 18th of June, Mr. Hamilton offered to the Con- 
rention a plan of government, in the fourth article of whicK 
the veio powder was unqualifiedly conferred on the Execu- 
tive. The next day, Mr. Gorham from Massachusetts, re- 
ported from the committee appointed to reconsider the va- 
rious propositions before the convention, and the tenth 
resolution of that report says: ''That the National Exec- 
utive shall have a right to negative any legislative act, 
which shall not be afterwards passed, unless by two-thirds 
of each branch of the National Legisla ure." The con- 
vention proceeded to take up the several articles and clau- 
ses of this report, and it w^as not till the 18th July that 
the tenth resolution became the order of the day ; it w^ai 
then passed nem. con. On the 21st, howe\er, Mr. Wil- 
son still entertained his original views as 'o the union of 
the Judiciary with the Executive on the veto power, moved 
an amendment to the resolution, which gave rise to a most 
interesting debate, in w^hich Mr. Ellsworth, from Connec- 
ticut, fvlr. Mason and Mr. Madison from Virginia, and 
Mr. Gouverneur Morris, of Pennsylvania, sustained the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 211 

views of Mr. Wilson , and Messrs. Gnrnr\ari, Gerry and 
Siron^, of JVfassachusetts, Mr. Martin of Maryland, and 
Mr. Rjt ledge of South Carolina, opposed them, and the 
amendaient was lost. The original resolution, therefore 
was again passtid. 

Having gone crititally through with \he repor^of the 
commiitee, the various resolutions which had been agreed 
to were, on Thursday, 2€th July, referred to a committee 
of Det il to report on Monday, August Gth, a draught of 
the Constitution. This committee, of which Mr. Rutledgt 
was chairman reported on ihe day assignetl^ and the veto 
power was conferred by the 13lh section of the six h arti 
cle. This paragraph, as reported by the committee, camt 
under discussion on Wednesday, ISth August, when Mr. 
Madison moved an amendment which revised the previ- 
ously agitated question of uniting the judges of the Su- 
preme Court with the President in his revision and rejee^ 
tion of laws passed by Congress. Much debate followed. 
Mr. Wilson and Mr. Mercer supported Mr. Madison, and 
Mr. Pinckney opposed. The amendmem was lost — thre« 
State voting for it and eight against it. Having thus sur- 
veyed the subject in all its bearing^s, the Constitution, al- 
tered, and perfected, w^as, on the 17th September 1787, 
signed by the Convention, and constitutes to this day the 
basis of our Government. The veto power in this Consti- 
tution is thus expressed article 1, section 7 : 

•^Every bill which shall have passed the House of Rep- 
resentatives shall, before it becomes a law, be presented 
to the President of 'he United States ; if he approve he 
shall sign it ; but if not, he shall return it wnth his objec- 
tions to that House in which it shall have originated, who 
shall enter he objections at large on their journal, and 
proceed to re-consider it." 

The first use of this constitutional power washy Wash- 
ino^-on, who, on the 5th April, 1792, vetoed ihe''Repr«- 
lentation Bill." which originated in the House of Repre- 



212 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

sentatives. As tbis^ from its priority, is an event worthy 
of extended notice, we give the circurasiance of the case 
as briefly related by Jefferson, then Secretary of State : 

'^ April 6th, — The President called on me before break- 
fast, and first introduced some other matter, then fell on 
the Representation Bill, which he had now m his posses- 
sion for the 10th diy. I had before given him my opin- 
ion inwriting,that the method ot appointment was contrary 
to the constitution. He agreed that it was contrary to the 
common understanding of that instrument, and to what was 
understood at the time by the makers of it ; that yet it 
would bear the construction which the bill put — and he ob- 
served that the vote for and against the bill w^as perfectly 
geographical — a Northern against a Southern vote — and 
he feared he should be thought taking sides with a Southern 
party. I admitted the motive of delicacy, but that it should 
not induce him to do w^'ong, and urged the dangers to 
which the scramble for the fractionary members w^ould al- 
ways lead? He here expressed his fear that there would 
ere long, be a separation of the Union — that the public 
mind seemed dissatisfied, and tending to this. He went 
home, sent for Randolph, the Attorney General, desired 
him to get Mr. Madison immediately, and come to me — 
and if w^e three concurred in opinion, that he would neg- 
ative the bill. He desired to hear nothing more about it, 
but that we would draw up the instrument for him to sign. 
They came — our minds had been before made up — we 
drew the instrument. Randolph carried it to him, and 
told him we all concurred in it. He w^alked wuth him to 
the door, and, as if he still washed lo get off, he said : — 
^And you say you approve of this yourself!' ''Yes, sir,'' 
says Randolph, 4 do, upon my honor.' He sent it ta 
the House of Representatives instantly. A few^ of the hot- 
test friends of the bill expressed passion, but the majori- 
ty were satisfied, and both in and out of doors it gave 
pleasure to have a' length an instance of die negative be- 
ing exercised. Written this the 9th April. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 21S 

This was in Washington's first term. Again elected 
iie again, on the 1st of March, 1797, vetoed the bill of 
the House of Representatives for a military establishment. 
Neither the elder Adams nor Jefferson employed it. — 
President Madison vetoed the following bilk, all but the 
bank originating in the House : 

February 21, 1811, Church in Alexandria. 

February 28, 1811, Baptist church. 

April 12, 1812, Judicial Bill 

November 6, 1812, Naturalization. 

January 20, 1812, United States Bank. 

March 3, 1817, Bonus BilL 

President Monroe, on the 4th of May, 1822 vetoed the 
bill of the House of Representatives 'Tor the preservation 
and repair of the Cumberland road." 

Follovvitig on the views of President Monroe in his ve- 
to. President Jackson also put his first veto, May 27, 18- 
30 on the ''Maysville road bill" from the House. Also, 
on the 3lsi Mav, 1831, *'An act to authorize a subscrip- 
tion of stock in the Washington Turnpike Company." 

December i7th, 1831. -''An act making appropriations 
for building light-houses, light-boats, monuments, placing 
buoys, and for improving harbors and directing surveys.^ 

''An act to authorize a subscription to stock in the 
Louisville and Portland Canal Company." 

July lOih, 1832 — "An act to modify and continue an 
act to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the Uni- 
ted States." 

December 6th, iS32.*— ''An act providing for the final 
settlement of the claims of States for interest on advances 
made to the United States during the late war." The 
same day he also vetoed the harbor bill. 

December 5th, 1833. — 'An act to appropriate, for a 
limited lime the proceeds of the sales of the public lands 
of the United States, and granting lands to certain States. 

In 1834. — "An act for making an appropriation for im* 
proving the navigation of the Wabash river. 



214 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIirJVT. 

June 9th, 1836. — A bill fixing a day for the meeting of 
Congress. 

And on the 3d March 1837 virtually vetoed the cur- 
rency bill ot the Senate, by aot returning the bill — the 
day foUowing Congre.ss adj^ourned. 

Prevsrdent Tyler vetoed, A igus' i6 h 1841, the Fiscal 
Bank bill, ami on September 9th 1841, the Fiscal Corpo- 
ration, bill, 0.n the 29fh June 1842 vetoed wh»! is gener- 
ally called the litile tariff bill and on 9lh August folbwing^ 
vetoed; another tariff bill. June '44 vetoed a Harbor bill. 

August 3 1846.— President Polk vetoed a bilt ^or the 
improvement of Rivers and Harbors ; and on \h^ 8th of 
the same m^nth, vetoed the Freneh Spoilation bill, 15th 
December vetoed an Internal Improvement bill, passed at 
the previous session. Such is a plain history ot the veto 
power. As it res[)eG s the sexeral States, the Executive 
in some have the power, in others not. Those which 
possess the negative power, such as is given to ihe Pres- 
ident are New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts^ 
Georgia, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri^ 
and Maine. 'The oth+^r Sates do not have it at all, or 
the bill when returned by the (Jovernor may be re-passed 
by a mere majority. 

Often Presi(ler»ts, six have made use of the veto pow- 
er, and four have not.'' 

It will scarcel} be denied that the veto powder is an ar- 
istocratic feature, though it is not believed that it was in- 
serted in the Constitution from aristocratic principles. — 
To say that it is a democratic feafure would be a . erver- 
sion of language. If a president should ever exercise the 
power which it confers, by \etoing every bill wnich he 
would no? have voted for, if he had been a member of ei- 
ther branch of the le^Jfislature, it would put a stop to the 
legislative branch of the government ; unless it submitted 
to Executive dictation and control. It certainty never was 
iixteuded by the framers ot the Constitution that it should 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 216 

be so used by the president, and yet such power is clear- 
ly conferred. He is not liiuiled to veto such bills only as 
he deems unconstitutional; he has a positive veto power, 
which Ciin only be overcome by a vote of two-thirds of 
the members of both Houses. Few bills, comparatively, 
pass by so laro^e a majority. Every member of both bran- 
ches of Congress will unhesitatingly agree that an appro- 
priation bill for the support of government is indispensa- 
bly necessary, not only to support the faith, but the very 
existence of the government — upon this subject there al- 
ways has been, and ever will be but one opinion. But 
members of Congress have ever differed in opinion as to 
the details of ev^ry such bill. If then the president should 
veto such a bill from objections to its details, or for any 
other cause ; it would have to be re-considered, and if not 
passed by a majority of two-thirds of both Houses, a bill 
would have to be framed in strict accordance with the 
views of ONE man, or no approj^riation could be made. — 
Is this Democracy or Aristocracy? it is clearly one or the 
other. No man will assert that it is democracy unless he 
denies that the true meaning of democracy is majority ; 
and if he assumes that absurd position, he cannot resist 
the fact th t it places it in the power of one man to con- 
trol the will of the natirm as expressed through their rep- 
resentatives. The people can only be consti utionally 
heard through dieir ie[)resentatives, and all laws, enact- 
ed, amended or repealed in accord tnce with the organi- 
zation of legislation, must be considered the act of the 
people; as much so as if every voter had been present, 
and sanctioned the enacting, amending or repealing act. 
The veto power can only be resorted to in opposition to 
the will of the people as expressed through their represen- 
tatives ; no bill is presented to the president except it first 
passes both branches of Congress. The vetopoiver pre- 
supposes first, that the members of Congress collectively 
and individually will ever be more or less imperfect and 



fl6 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

xnfght err in judgment as relates to the constitutionality 
or expediency of a measure, or might mistake the will of 
their constituents; all of which is unhesitatingly admitted. 
But in the second place it presupposes that the president 
will ever be infallible; it claims tor him all the attributes 
ascribed by the British Constitution, or Magna Charter to 
the king (or queen), that "he can neither aci wrong or 
think wrong." Such attributes are positively ascribed to 
the king, and yet he has seldom dared to use the veto 
power — the ministry is considered as thinking and acting 
for him. 

It will not be contended that every president of the U* 
States, for the time being, possessed superior judgment 
upon all subjects connected with the government, to all 
other men in the nation, or th >t he was the wisest man ; 
and yet the veto power ascribes to him infallibdity — that 
he can neither act or think wrong. Let us suppose that 
the clause in the Constitution which gives ihe president 
an unqualified negative, at his own discretion, to every 
bill after its passage through bo h Houses of Congress, 
had been so worded as to have secured to him a discress- 
ionary right of giving a negaUve vote on every bill, and in 
each House, equal to one-third of all the members of the 
Senate and House of Representatives, who had previous- 
ly voted; securing to both Houses the right of reconsider- 
ing, and securing to the president the right to cast the 
same vote after a bill had been re-considered; his veto 
power would have been just the same that it now is — the 
form, not the principle or power would have been chang- 
ed. In the lauer case the president would not have been 
bound to give such negative votes ; no more than he is 
now bound to veto a bill, the right in either case would 
be discretionary, but the effect and power, just the same. 
The negative is now secured to the president and the right 
of re-considering to Congress, yet it requires two-thirds 
of all the members present lo pass a bill after it has been 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 21T 

vetoed; precisely the same in effect, as to secure to him 
a right to give a negative vote in each House equal to 
one third of all the members who had voted. Is this De- 
mocracy or is it Aristocracy? 

Let us now take the converse. The small majority by 
which bills are frequently rejected on a final vote, is well 
calculated to produce an opinion, that Congress is as like- 
ly to reject a bill w^hich ought to pass, as to pass a bill 
which ought to be rejected. Suppose then that the mem- 
bers of the Convention, had taken into consideration the 
possibility, thai in the event of war. Congress might re- 
fuse to vote for the necessary supplies to su[)portit5 or not 
vote for such measures as w^ould ensure a vigorous pros- 
ecation, and had secured to the president an affirmative 
vote on every rejected bill equal to one-ihird of the votes 
cast in each House. Could not as plausable reasons be- 
assigned for giving the president an affirmative influence 
over the legislative action of Congress as a negative influ- 
ence? The answer is submitted to the reader. 

Let us take a view of the consequences w^hich might 
flow from the veto power, first from a president possess- 
ing superior talents and acquirem.ents, and secondly one 
of comparatively inferior talents and acquirements. If the 
first was ambitious, self-willed, and unyielding in his o- 
pinions, -md tyrannical in his disposition, he could for four 
years, without violating the letter of the Constitution, con- 
trol the action of Congress in the passage of almost ev- 
ery bill; few, very few bills could pass, except directly or 
indirecily dictated by him. Next, take the case of a pres- 
ident less talened. He might be vain enough to consid- 
er himself a Solomon in w^isdom, and that the use of the 
veto power would make him a Samson in strength; and 
we might suffer as much from the ignorance of the 
latter president as from the tyranny of the former. — 
The advocates of the veto power agree that it should be 
cautiously used and only under extraordinary circumstan- 



218 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ces. Is not Congress the popular branch of which is chos- 
en by the direct vote of the people, as well qualified to 
form measures adopted to extraordinary circumstances as 
one man? If as well, then the veto povxer is siipertluous* 
If it be thought that the president is better qualified to de- 
cide as to a constitutionality or expediency of measures, 
under all circumstances whatever than Congress, the de- 
cision will be, not only against the democracy ruling, but 
against the Divine maxim, 'Mn a multitude of c >unNellors 
there is safety." The arguments in support of tlie veto 
are as follows in substance : 

The president presides over the nation, and all within 
its bounds are alike his constituents; and that he is less 
likely to be influenced by party and sectional feelings 
than Congress, and better qualified to j'idge of measures 
suited to our home and foreign relations. 

The first part of the proposition is admi ted as a matter 
of fact. But the latter is debateable. It, in effect pro- 
nounces the president as politically deaf, dumb, and una- 
ble to read; but the history of our country proves that the 
president \^ politically communicative and sensative, and 
the Constitution requires him to be so. Nn solid reasons 
can be assigned vvhy the president wmII not at all tiines be 
as likely to be influenced by party or sectional feelings as a 
member of Congress. He might also enteriaiu t'eeliugsof 
hostility tov^^ards one foreign nation, and view in too fa- 
vorable a light, the measures of another. His hostility 
in the former case might arise from misapprehension, and 
m th^ latter case his motives might be correr-t, whilst his 
confidence might be misplaced. In a word, he is as likely to 
be governed by passion, or caprice as a tnember of Con- 
gress, and as his veto power gives him, in effect, a nega- 
tive vote in each branch of Congress, equal to one third 
of all the niembers present, it gives him a power s form- 
idable and dangerous as it is in violation of the true mean- 
ing and spirit of democracy. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 219 

Although democracy neither means good or evil ; its 
true meaning being synonymous with majority, it is more 
rational to believe that the democracy, i. e. the majority 
wouhl rule the n^inority in mercy and justice, than in op- 
pression anri blood. The people of the United States,, 
spread over an extensive country, rapidly increasing in 
popuhuion, can only speak constitutionally through their 
representatives. Their intelligence has impressed them 
with the necessity of a regularly organized form of gov- 
ernment; without which there can be no security for "life, 
libertv and the pursuit of happiness:*' they prefer a dem- 
ocratic representative form of government^ to that of any 
other. The only means then, by which a majority can 
rule through their representatives, is o make measures not 
a party nauie, the test at every election, as far as practi- 
cable; and if the representatives disregard the will of the 
majority, wisdom dictates that life, liberty, and every thing 
worthy of preservation w^ould be better secured by sub- 
mitting to unpopular laws, until they could be c*onstitu- 
tionally repealed by changing their representatives, than 
by resorting to violence and blood-shed, which would be 
more likely to increase, than decrease the evil. 

Should the use of the veto power become so common? 
as to leave no d(Mibt on the minds of the people, that the 
only channel through which hey could constitutionally be 
heard, hiS been obstructed, and the will of the majority 
Fejected; is natural tendency would be to create excite- 
ment. If it be said, that if the veto power should be im- 
properly used, that by an appeal to the ballot- br.x, every 
four years, the difficulty could be removerl, it is granted^ 
so far as relates to the president who misused it; but his 
successor might follow in the footsteps of his predecessor; 
by which means the will of the peo[)le might be disregard- 
ed through all time. Besides, he veto power ascribes in- 
fallibilitv in judgment, and purity of intention under all 
circumstances to the Executive. It virtually declares that 



220 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the people and their representatives may be wrong in their 
judgment, not only as lo the constitutionality but the ex- 
pediency of measures ; but that the president, like a Brit- 
ish king, can neither "act wrong or think wrong," and 
proclaim, "Oh king, live for ever!" There is no politi- 
cal necessity in giving to the president the veto power, 
with a view of testing his infallibility and integrity. 

At every presidential election, since the formation of 
our government, the party lines have been drawn, with 
the following exceptions: — Gen. Washington was elected 
and re-elected without organized opposition ; but there 
was a powerful opposition to many of his measures ; and 
a vote of thanks for his services did not pass the House 
of Representatives by a unanimous vote. Secondly, Mr. 
Monroe was re-elected without opposition ; but under 
circumstances, which it is not probable, will ever again 
occur. During his administration we had no difficulty 
w^ith any foreign nation ; no exciting questions at home: 
the federal party so reduced in numbers, that they could 
not have carried more than three or four small States by 
a close vote, and their success would have been impossi- 
ble. Add to this, Mr. Monroe's administration was pop- 
ular with both political parties. 

But a very different si ate of ihings now exist. The in- 
creaseof population will be comparatively small in the north 
eastern section of our Union, whilst the interior of a vast 
portion of our south-west and north-western territory has 
not yet been fully explored, and iis outlines not fully es- 
tablished, except so far as they are bounded by the Pacific 
and the Gulf of Mexico. As ihis region becomes settled 
and the paths of the red men obliterated by ihe plough of 
the White man; a large portion of the people will be fur- 
ther removed from the seat of government; new interests 
will spring up, new parties, will be formed and the servi- 
ces of the immediate representation of the people will in- 
crease in importance. If their voice should be rendered 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 221 

impotent by the use of the veto power; might it not pro^ 
duce violent internal commotion and terminate in a sepa* 
ration of tlie Union? The people should neither delegate 
too much or too little power to their representations ; but 
keep up an equilibrium between both, checks and balances 
are not only necessary, but indispensible to the preserva- 
tion of our rights; bui care should be taken to preserve an 
equilibrium and give to the machinery of government just 
proportions. It may be considered vain in the writer to 
pronounce the veto power aristocratic and dangerous. — 
Upon abstract principles the wTiter is of no importance to 
the reader — not so with the subject upon which he writes. 
Great deference is due to the opinions of the members of 
the convention who framed the constitution, but they w^ere 
divided upon the subject and had difficulty in settling the 
question. There is probably no maxim more true in a gener- 
al point of view, than that which says "a wise man chang- 
es his opinion, a fool never." The framers of the consti- 
tution, not claiming infallibility, anticipated that time and 
circumstances would point out defects in the instrument 
and made provision in the fifth article for amendments. — 
The constitution has already underw^ent various amend- 
ments and President Jackson recommended and urged 
further changes. 

The frequent use of the veto of late years, has created 
an unwholesome excitement and given utterance to ex- 
pressions and sentiments of an alarming character. One 
portion of the people have rejoiced at defeating measures 
by the potency of one man whilst the defeated party claim 
to be the democracy of numbers. At the close of every 
election for a president down to a com!:nissioner, the de- 
feated party has generally given evidence of cheerfully 
submitting to the will of the majority, but not at being de- 
feated by the veto power. 

It wiil not do to say that the ve^o power has always' 
been and ever will be used in support ot* the will of a ma- 



222 POLITICAL EQUILlBRitJM* 

jority of the people ; such a declaration, can never proceed 
from an in eliigent and sober-minded man. If a president 
should declare in his inaugural address, thiU lie should 
consider it his dutj to veto every bill that he ^\ould not 
have voted for if a member of either branch of congress, 
he would be denounced as a tyrant throughout ihe nation, 
all parties would alike denounce him ; there would be but 
one sentiment, and that of indignation ; because no party 
could knovvj in advance, which would be proscribed by 
the Samson power, and the excitement would be tremen* 
dous, perhaps ungovernable. It has been some times as- 
serted that the veto proects the minority from oppression 
by the majority. Here then the aristocratic principle that 
the majority should submit othe minority is plainly asser- 
ted. The journals of Legislatures show that such bills only 
pass as receive a majority of votes and all others are re* 
jected. Ag^in, the majority or the minority must rule : 
it is impossible to avoid one or the other under any cir* 
cumstances. The intelligence of the people of the United 
Slates is such as to leave no doubt, that the majority, if 
unfettered will always view the minority favorably, act in 
a spirit of compromise and good feeling; but not so if the 
minority assert a right to rule the majority and try by force 
of physical or moral power to carry their measures. 

Checks, and balances are indispensible in a well or- 
ganized government; but ihey ought to be properly pro- 
portioned so as to produce an equilibrium: the balance 
wheels, leaders and drivers should be so constructed as 
not to back-lash: each should aid the other, without any 
being overburdened. An enquiring and unbiased states- 
man might gam useful knowledge in the science of gov- 
erniiient, by examining the various machinery in opera- 
tion, throughout our land: knowledge is progressive : and 
the best means to acquire it is by sober enquiry, without 
regard to party considerations. It is easier to corrupt or 
influence one man, than to corrupt or influence many.— ^ 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 223 

President Jackson urged an amendment to the Constitu* 
lion, so as to limit the president to one term, and he serv- 
ed two. Apply this to the veto: a president might con^ 
sider i' as dangerous as it is aristocratic: he might urge 
an amendment o the Constitution, so as to abolish it, and 
yet he might use it. If to secure to the people their nat- 
ural and acquired rights, and to carry out their will, it is 
necessary tor the president to have a negative vote, equal 
to one-third of all the members of both branches of Con- 
gress, it follows Upon the same principle, that he ought 
to have an affirmative voie equal to one- third of both bran- 
ches of the legislative branch of the government; because 
the president is as capable of judging affirmatively as neg- 
atively. If the foregoing premises are incorrect, their ref- 
utation would be gratifying to the writer. 

In the opinion of the writer, the president ought to have 
the right of withholding his approval of any bill which he 
could not conscientiously sign; but that if on a reconsid- 
eration, it passed each branch of Congress by a bare ma- 
jority, it should be sufficient. A bill vetoed by a presi- 
dent and returned to Congress, with his objections as re- 
quired by the Constitution, could not fail, under any cir- 
cumstances, to receive a searching re-consideration. The 
responsibility would then rest upon the representatives of 
the people who could take time to deliberate upon it. — 
Such an amendment would be a relief to the president, 
and it is scarcely probable that an unambitious Executive, 
possessing democratic principles would object to it. Pres- 
ident Jackson in his last annual message s ated that he 
gave " a reluctant approval" to " the deposit act" of ihe 
previous session ; and it is not to be supposed that he 
would have voted for it if he had been a member of either 
House of Congress. Doubtless, every President who serv- 
ed through one or two terms, signed bills which he would 
not have voted for, had he been a member of either branch 
ef the national Legislature. The veto, subjects the Presi* 



224 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

dent to the necessity of approving by his official signature, 
bills, which he disapproves^ or of requiring by the aid of 
the veto two-ihirds of both Houses lo pass them. Is this 
democracy ? Does experience require such a check to 
legislation ? Is every succeeding President more wise 
and virtuous than his predecessor, and is the great body 
of the people and iheir representatives in Congress degen- 
erating in intelligence, wisdom and virtue? Is progress- 
ive democracy in its expanding wisdom, confined to the 
President? The foregoing questions are with great defer- 
ence submitted to the serious consideration of the intelligent 
reader. 

As appropriate the writer will make a quotation from a 
letter in the 4 vol. of Mr. Jefferson's 'Writing^ page 202 
dated 27th June 1813 and addressed to Mr. John Ad- 
ams. 

"The terms whig and Tory belong to national as well 
as civil history. They denote the temper and constitu- 
tion of mind of different individuals. To come to our 
own country to the times when you and I became first 
acquainted ; we well remember the violent panics which 
agitated the old Congress, and their bitter contests. — 
There you and I were arrayed together ; others cherished 
the monarchy of England, and we the rights of our own 
country. 

But as soon as the constitution, the lineof division was 
again drawn. We broke into two parties, each wishing 
to give the Government a different direcdon; iheone (the 
Republican party) to strengthen the most popular branch, 
(Congress.) The other the more permanent branches, 
and to extend their permanence. Here you and I separated 
for the first time, and one party placed your name at iheir 
head — the other selected mine.'' 

In the foregoing letter Mr. Jefferson, could not hava 
had reference to the veio power as applicable to Mr. Ad- 
ams, who never used it. But ihe Federal party were al- 



POLltlCAL EQUILIBRIUM. 225 

ways advocates for a strong Executive-they hold the same 
principles to the present day, and acting under the popu- 
lar name of democrat have generally carried out iheir meas- 
ures. Wiih ihem ihe president, if of iheir pariy, constitutes 
the soul and body of the democracy and his vetoes are 
lauded by them. 

President Washington, had doubts of the consiitution- 
ality of a national bank, and requesied each m_ember of ihe 
cabmet to give his opinion in writing, on the cons iiution* 
ality and expediency of such an insiiiution. Mr. Jefferson 
was then Secretary of State, ihe head of the cabinet, and 
in his "writings, ^' (4(h vol. if the memory of ihe writer 
is correct^ is inserted a copy of his letter to the President. 
In the last paragraph he recapitulates his sentiments and 
distinctly advises the president that if his doubts as to con- 
stitutionality, and ''pros and cons" are equal he ought to 
yield his doubts to the decision of Congress and sign the 
bill. But if he believed it to be clearly unconstitutional, 
had no doubts upon the subject, he ought fo veto it. Such 
was the advice of Mr. Jefferson, whose deference for a bill 
passed by the deliberate action of Congress, and wdiich 
was in accordaiice with democratic principles, in the true 
meaning of democracy. President Washington signed 
the bill. As Mr. Jefferson at that time possessed the con- 
fidence of the President it is, to the WTiter, probable that 
the latter would ^have vetoed the bill if the former had 
advised it. The whigs and democrats quote Mr. Jeffer- 
son in supp ^^t of their principles. 

Ask a modern democrat if he approves of the political 
principles and measures of Mr. Jefferson. And he will an- 
swer yes-that he has always approved of his political princi- 
ples and measures; believes that he w^as the greatest man 
that ever lived, except "the greatest and best." Then ask 
him ifhe ever read his ''writings" and he w'ill answer no, 
withthe exception of, perhaps, one out of a thousand. The 
writer has not all Mi*. Jefferson's "Writings" in his pos- 
p 



226 POLITICAL EQUlLlBRItTM* 

session ; but the quotations he copied from them into a 
note book, but omitted in some instances, to note the 
vol. and page. The Presidential veto has been used 
twenty-five times ; it has not been used in England, 
it is said, for more than two hundred years. 



CHAPTER IX. 

On the Qualification of Voters* 

The writer does not know that it will be expected of 
him to say anything upon the principle of suffrage; nor is 
he aware that it is necessary for him to do so. But as he 
has not, nor ever had, any desire to conceal his sentiments 
upon any subject connected with politics or anything else, 
he distinctly says that he does not, nor ever could, believe 
that it required either dollars or acres to confer upon a man 
intellectual faculties; or to make him politically or moral- 
ly honest ; or that his attachment to his country must be 
in proportion to, or dependent upon, his w^ealth. Property 
is daily passing from those born rich to those born poor ; 
the rich of to-day, are the poor of to-morrov;; and the poor 
of to-day, are the wealthy of to-morrow; many who hold 
large estates are insolvent; and the prospects of the mdus- 
trious poor are generally better than the prospects of the 
wealthy, many of whom raise their children in idleness. 
The writer wuU not assert that their are no evils in univer- 
sal suffrage; but he does say that, in his opinion, and from 
his observation, when he resided in Virginia, of the prac- 
tical effect of a strong property qualification, that the evils 
connected with universal suffrage are less tlian the evils 
which grow out of property qualification. Where a prop- 
erty qualification is the requisite, wealthy men can manu- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 227 

facture voters with impunity, and without subjecting them- 
selves to the charge of violating the letter or spirit of the 
law. Suppose it required twenty-five acres of land, or a 
house and lot in a town, equivalent to it, and a specified 
length of possession to constitute a voter: the parties in a 
country or district are nearly equally divided, and an im- 
portant election will soon take place: a man, deeply inter- 
ested, owns five hundred acres of land, or more, has a 
half-dozen sons and sons-in-law, all of lawful age, living 
on his land: he makes each a deed for the requisite quan- 
tity in time to constitute them voters; the deeds are recor- 
ded and are valid in law and equity. He might say that 
he made the deeds for the only purpose of making them 
voters, and that but for which purpose they never would 
have owned the land during his life, yet the deeds and 
their right to vote would be as valid as if they had paid a 
valuable consideration in money. The same will apply, 
whether the qualification is in real or personal property, 
or to quantity or value. The writer was once a member 
of a committee who measured, w'ith a rule, the size of a 
dwelling house, in Virginia, to ascertain whether its di- 
mensions, in connection with twenty-five acres of land, 
were sufficient to constitute the owner a voter. A con- 
vention, which assembled in 1830, extended the right of 
suffrage; but there still exists, in Virginia, a strong prop- 
erty qualification. 

On referring to the original constitutions of the old thir- 
teen states, it will appear that the right of suffrage was 
more liberal and less restrictive in the states of Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Ver- 
mont and New Jersey, than in the others. Females had 
a right to vote under the original constitution of New Jer- 
sey. In Rhode Island, the people have not, as yet, form- 
ed a constitution. The charter granted by Charles 11, 
modified to suit their condition after the separation from 
England, has been adhered to. It is worthy of remark, 



228 POLITICAL EQiriLIBRIUM. 

that the charter granted to the people the right of choos- 
ing their governor and representatives — requires no prop- 
erty qualification on the part of the voter. The qualifica- 
tion required since the separation from England, cannot 
justly be charged to the royal charter, for it requires none, 
and is, in its general features, more democratic than some 
of the constitutions of the present day. The suffrage men 
appear to have contended for the rights granted by the 
letter and spirit of the charter. 

If, at the commencement of the revolution, king George 
III, had called on Mr. Jefferson to propose andwrite such 
a charter of privileges for each of the colonies as would 
be satisfactory to them, it is not probable that he would 
have asked more than was granted by Charles IL Be- 
cause, in his memoirs, first volume, page 150, is a letter, 
dated Monticello, August 25, 1775, addressed to John 
Randolph, Esq., (not the eccentric gentleman of that 
name, who was his bitter reviler in Congress, but a gen- 
tleman of that name who resided in Virginia at that time,) 
in which Mr. Jefferson says: — 

'4f, indeed, Great Britain, disjoined from her colonies, 
be a match for the most potent nations of Europe, with 
the colonies thrown into their scales, they may go on se- 
curely. But if they are not assured of this, it would be 
certainly unwise, by trying the event of another campaign, 
to risk our accepting a foreign aid, which perhaps may be 
attainable but on condition of everlasting avulsion from 
Great Britain. This would be thought a hard condition 
to those who still wish for re- union with their parent coun- 
try. I am sincerely one of those, and would rather be in 
dependence on Great Britain, properly limited, than on 
any nation upon earth, or than on no nation. But I am 
one of those, too, who, rather than to submit to the right 
of legislating for us, assumed by the British Parliament, 
and which late experience has shov/n they will so cruel- 
ly exercise, would lend ray hand to sink the whole Island 
in the ocean!" 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRITJM* 229 

In another letter, addressed to the same gentleman, 
page 152, first vol., dated Philadelphia, November 29, 
1775, only eight months previous to the Declaration of In- 
dependence, Mr. Jefferson — at that time a member of the 
Continental Congress which passed the Declaration of 
Independence — says : — 

''Believe me, dear sir, there is not in the British Em- 
pire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great 
Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will 
cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms 
as the British Parliament propose; and, in (his I think I 
speak the sentiments of America, We want neither in- 
ducement nor power to declare and assert a separation. — 
It is will alone which is wanting, and that is growing a- 
pace under the fostering hand of our king. One bloody- 
campaign will probably decide everlastingly our future 
course; I am sorry to find a bloody campaign is decided 
on. If our winds and waters should not combine to res- 
cue their shores from slavery, and Gen. Howe's reinforce- 
ment should arrive in safety, we have hopes he will be 
inspirited to come out of Boston and take another drub- 
bing; and we must drub him soundly before the sceptred 
tyrant will know we are not mere brutes, to crouch under 
his hand, and kiss the rod with which he designs to 
scourge us,'^ 

It appears, then, that eight months previous to the Dec- 
laration of Independence, Mr. Jefferson preferred reconcil- 
iation to separation; and he doubtless spoke the sentiments 
of the great mass of the American people. His letters to 
Mr. Randolph are not at variance with the sentiments in 
the Declaration of Independence. In that venerated and 
able state paper the cause of dissolving allegience to the 
British government is distinctly stated. Had Great Brit- 
ain repealed the oppressive acts and edicts of which the 
colonies complained, at an early stage of the Revolution 
it would have ceased, and whether we would now be a 



230 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

free and independent nation, or colonies to Great Britain, 
is a matter of opinion. Some have been so illiberal as to 
cite Mr. Jefferson's letters to Mr. Randolph as proof that 
he preferred a monarchial to a democratic form of govern- 
ment. But we should take into consideration the com- 
paratively weak state of the colonies compared with the 
mother country. Notwithstanding the patriotism, valor, 
military skill, perseverance and patient sufferings of our 
forefathers were never surpassed, it is by no means cer- 
tain that they would have succeeded had they not been 
aided by the French. 

If, after the publication of the Declaration, the patriots 
had failed to gain their liberty, it is more than probable that 
Washington and all the leaders of the revolution, inclu- 
ding the signers of the Declaration, would have been ex- 
ecuted, (for an unsuccessful revolution is considered a re- 
bellion,} except, perhaps, Mr. Jefferson, who, by the aid 
of those letters, in connection with his superior talents, 
might have escaped. It is believed that Mr. Jefferson, in 
point of talents and tactics in politics, had not his equal 
during the revolution—certainly, not his superior. His 
mind was as comprehensive as powerful , and he viewed 
both sides of every question which presented itself, find, 
in his wisdom, prepared for a safe retreat, if not trium- 
phant in the righteous cause in which he was engaged. 

Whilst Patrick Henry was the first man in the colonies, 
who had the bold daring, openly, in a legislative assem- 
bly, to broach the subject of a revolution against the moth • 
er country; John Adams, second President, was among 
the first, if not the first man known to have looked to, 
and expressed a desire for a separation of the colonies 
from the parent country. Pre-eminently talented, a splen- 
did orator, and ardently looking forward from his boy- 
hood to the establishment of an independent government, 
no man did more in the capacity of a statesman in sup- 
porting the revolution to its successful termination. But 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 231 

his administration was unpopular. The French Revolu- 
tion and the condition of Europe, led to measures of the 
Federal government; which under more favorable circum- 
stances would have been unnecessary, and, probably would 
not have been thought of. The election in 1796, termin- 
ated in the choice of Mr. Adams as President, and Mr. 
Jefferson as Vice President, and the latter, immediately 
after the result was known, in a letter to Mr. Madison, 
expressed his satisfaction at the result; stating, that Mr. 
Adams was his senior in age and services during the Rev- 
olution. See his "Writings", (page and volume not rec- 
ollected). Had Mr. Jefferson, been the first choice of the 
people in 1796, his administration might have shared the 
fate of his predecessor. From the ''Writings" of Mr. Jef- 
ferson it will be seen that he placed a high estimate upon 
the talents and patriotism of Mr. Adams. 

"He was, says Mr. Jefferson, as honest as God could 
make him, and if his soul w^as turned inside out there 
could not be found a dark spot upon it. In the political 
revolutions through which we have passed, the services 
rendered by Mr. John Adams in the days that tried men's 
souls, have, to a great extent, been overlooked, whilst his 
errors, real or supposed have been held up as unpardona- 
ble sins. 



CHAPTER X. 

Thoughts on War. 

An intelligent and respectable portion of the people of 
the United States hold and advance the doctrine that war 
cannot be justified under any circumstances, or for any 
cause whatever; that all wars were wicked and at vari- 
ance with the spirit and precepts of Christianity. In thg 



232 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

general and unqualified denunciation, no distinction is 
made between offensive and defensive wars, the aggres- 
sor and the aggrieved are placed upon an equality and 
both alike condemned. Those w^ho hold the doctrine of 
non-resistance, under any circumstances whatever, are 
more numerous in the United States, in proportion to pop- 
ulation, it is believed, than in any other nation. Those 
pious christians, (the writer does not intend to be ironical 
but serious) who deny that a defensive w^ar can be justi- 
fied by Holy Writ, involve themselves in an awful posi- 
tion, a dilemma, either end of which will be alike fatal to 
their principles. 

Now to the proof. We read in the New Testament, 
that there w^as war in Heaven, and that too, since the 
Christian era; that Michael commanded on one side, and 
Satan on the other, and that the latter and his angels were 
defeated and ''cast out into the earth." If then war, of- 
fensive and defensive, are alike wicked and unjustifiable, 
the war on the side of Michael and his angels, was as 
wicked and unjustifiable as the war on the part of Satan 
and his hosts. And if no resistance had been made to 
Satan, Heaven would be under his government and con- 
trol, and the nations of this world his colonies. 

Those who denounce War as unjust and anti-christi- 
an, under any circumstances w^hatever, fall into two er- 
rors, one of w^hich they invariably commence with, and 
soon connect it with the other. One is the ahstract con- 
sideration of only one side of the question; and the other 
is in advocating a principle not applicable to the present 
state of the whole human race, — they should consider the 
various classes of the human family in the state and con- 
dition in which they really are, and not in that moral state 
of rectitude w^hich w^ould require no law or form of gov- 
ernment. In advocating the principle of ''peace and good 
will to all mankind," we should bear in mind that nations 
and individuals are not perfect — that national and state 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 233 

laws are necessary for the protection of natural and ac- 
quired rights, and restraining or punishing wrong doers. 

Self-defence, the first law of nature, is in many cases 
synonymous with self-preservation — this law is not con- 
fined to the human family; it is understood and acted up- 
on by all animals down to little eels in vinegar; nor does 
this Divine principle stop here; if one benas a blade of 
grass it resists the aggression in proportion to its strength; 
as certainly so as w^ould the branch or body of the sturdy 
oak. Every objection to selt-defence and self-preserva- 
tion, is an impeachment of the wisdom and laws of God ; 
it is certainly so, and the Quaker cannot avoid the issue 
enjoined by his principles of non-iesistance to unprovok- 
ed ap^orression. 

Clothes are not worn exclusively for ornaments, nor as 
a badge for lost innocence ; protection against the effects 
of extreme heat and cold are necessarily connected with 
dress, and the expense of it was not entailed upon us by 
the disobedience of oar first parents; it is rendered neces- 
sary by the climate, as well as by usage. Resistance for 
the preservation of life, against the uplifted arm of an as- 
sassin, who seeks to take life without cause or necessity, 
W'Ould be as justifiable as it is to wrap ourselves in warm 
clothing, m freezing weather ; both have their origin, the 
Divine principle of self-defence and the preservation of 
life. 

War would not be justifiable or excusable if Waged for 
conquest and national power ; neither would it be justifia- 
ble ; scarcely excusable, if waged for redress of grievances 
and positive wrongs, unless reasonable forbearance and 
peaceful means had first been used towards the offending 
nation. The minister^ the king and council-those entrusted 
with the management of government,frequently act wrong, 
contrary to the wishes of the body of the people. In such 
cases reasonable forbearance on the part of the aggrieved 
nation, might effect a change in the ministry of the offend- 



234 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ing power, and a bloodless redress of grievances. Besides, 
an aggrieved nation, governed by able statesmen, might, 
m many cases, obtain redress for wrongs inflicted, by 
measures of a pacific character. But cases might occur 
(as has been the case,) in which forbearance would cease 
to be a virtue, and an appeal to arms, and repelling force 
by force justifiable and called for. 

In all Wars there must necessarily be at least two na- 
tions or parties engaged, and if both were equally wrong 
in every case without exception, it follows conclusively 
that both parties engaged in the War in Heaven, Satan 
and his host on one side, and the Celestial army on the 
other, were alike wrong. If the Celestial powers had not 
fought against Satan and defeated him, Heaven and earth 
would be under the government of his Satanic majesty, as 
before stated. 

Of the comparative few who profess to be conscientious- 
ly opposed to war, under any circumstances, not one of 
them, in the opmion of the writer, would give practicable 
evidence of it in an individual point of view. If a weak 
and unarmed man, demanded of a strong man, holding ihe 
Quaker principles, his money or life, he would not surren- 
der either. Or, if a ruffian undertook to wring the nose 
of one who holds the doctrine of non-resistance, and did 
not keep his fingers out of the mouth of the assailed, he 
would be more or less punished for the assault. Bear in 
mind that a sanguinary combat between two men, repre- 
sents, in miniature, a battle between two nations. 

There are, undoubtedly, many good men, who would 
rather live under any form of government, established by 
a civilized nation, than go to War; but a great majority 
of the people of the United States would prefer War, with 
any foreign power, than submission to dictation or op- 
pression. But the writer does not say or believe that all 
Wars in which Christians were engaged were just, or ne- 
cessary on either side. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 235 

But it is unqualifiedly asserted that War cannot be jus- 
tified under any circumstances whatever. With more 
sense, christian piety and truth, it is asserted that unpro- 
voked aggression, lawless violence and oppression of the 
weak by the strong, cannot be sanctified upon christian 
principles. Does the christian religion teach and advocate 
rapine, murder, and carnage? No man in his senses will 
answer afl^irmatively. Does holy Writ, unqualifiedly teach 
the doctrine of passive submission to all acts of mjustice 
and cruelty? — that no man would be justified in attempting 
to resist, ov escape^ the uplifted arm of a wretch who sought 
to take his life, or murder his wife and children? There 
could not be empanelled an intelligent and impartial jury, 
professing to be conscientiously opposed to 7'esistance in 
self-defence^ who would bring in a verdict of murder a- 
gainst one, who in defence of his life, and only alternative 
preserved his existence by slaying the unrighteous assail- 
ant: such killing, non-combattants would readily consider 
excusable, if not justifiable, — the writer goes for the latter. 
And the principle and circumstances relied upon in justi- 
fication of self-defence, on the part of individuals, will ap- 
ply with equal force to nations. 

Deity has impressed all living beings which move up- 
on the earth, in the water, or wing their way in the air, 
from the most intelligent and accomplished man, down to 
the insignificant insect of a day, with a desire to preserve 
and prolong life, and the means bestowed, are, probably 
equally distributed. The few that die from self-destruction 
are only exceptions to the great benign general principle 
implanted. He w^ho w^ould lose his life, rather than raise his 
hand in defence to preserve it, would positively be ungrate- 
ful to his Creator, who bestowed upon him the reasoning 
faculty in connection with physical power ; and would 
moreover, be a suicide, as much so, in fact, as if he used 
his hands to his own destruction. 
But the question will be urged by non-combattants, — • 



236 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Can War be justified under any circumstances whatever?- 
To solve this question upon the principles of justice and 
equity to all men, another query should be considered in 
connection with it. Is unprovoked aggression justifiable? 
All good men will answer in the negative. Upon ab- 
stract principles it may be truly said that War is a great 
national evil, at variance with the principles of Christian- 
ity, and inconststent w'ith civilization. And abstractly it 
can be properly asserted that it would be wrong to con- 
fine a man in a prison, or deprive him of his liberty. To 
assert that unprovoked aggression and resistance in self- 
defence, for the preservation of life, reputation or proper- 
ty, are alike wrong, would be at variance with the under- 
standing of all rational men ; the difference between right 
and wrong, in such a case, is too plain to be misunder- 
stood, or to admit of argument. 

A pugelistic combat between two individuals, rep- 
resents, in miniature, a war between nations ; as certainly 
so, as a map represents the extent, figure and geographi- 
cal position of a country. In such combats, all who were 
engaged in ihem could not have been right; but does it 
follow, upon the principles of reason or religion that all 
were equally lurong ! If yea, it follows conclusively that 
all laws, human and divine, from that spoken by the great 
I AM, in the garden of Eden, down to the present day are 
wrong, and should not have been enjoined upon mankind, 
because all those laws connect and carry with them a pen- 
alty, punishment, restriction, or compulsory infliction up- 
on those who would act in violation of them. 

In every thing managed by human hands and minds 
extremes should be avoided, or approached only in cases 
of necessity. Reason and Revelation teach that there is 
certainly a dividing line between right and wrong, as it is 
certain that there is a centre to a circle, and that we may 
err, not only in trespassing upon the rights of others, but: 
in forbearance and passive submission to oppression or iii- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 237 

justice, though the latter may be less sinful or objectionable 
than the former. The wrong doer should be reformed or 
corrected; the infliction of the latter should not be great- 
er than the offence require. ''An eye for an eye, and a 
tooth for a tooth" are plainly recorded in the statute laws 
of Moses, upon divine authority, and sanctioned by the 
Author of our holy religion. Those laws like all others, 
are constructed more or less figuratively; and their appli- 
cation to crime cannot be misunderstood by intelligent and 
untrammelled minds. 

In support of passivity under oppression and cruelty 
even unto death, the following text is often quoted and 
relied upon: — "Then said Jesus unto him, put up again 
thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword 
shall perish with the sword. '^ Protestant translation: — 
"Then Jesus said to him: put up again thy sword into its 
place: for all that take the sword shall perish with the 
sword." Catholic translation: — the latter text is the most 
grammatical, but neither does much credit to the transla- 
tors in a grammatical sense; both, however, convey the 
same meaning — "They that take the sword shall pm^A;" 
not live or triumph by its use, as w^ould be the case if no 
resistance was made. Consequently, those ^'ho take the 
sword would not perish by it in their own hands, used 
against themselves like suicides; but they "shall perish", 
by the sword of resistance in the hands of the assailed and 
aggrieved party, is the plain common sense meaning of 
the text. The construction that the text forbids resistance 
of a clearly defensive character in any case w^hatever, is 
the most unnatural exposition that the mind can conceive; 
and it is wonderful that so intelligent a people as the 
Quakers should fall into such an absurdity and perversion 
of language. It is not astonishing that men who act up- 
on the principle that ignorance is a Christian virtue; who 
look at one side of the question for the w^ant of sufficient 
mind to see both sides, and who have not the capacity to 



238 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

comprehend the difRrence between offensive and deferi* 
sive actSj should deny the right of self-defence. They, 
in effect, though unintentional, passively sanction ciirae. 
If it is sinful to resist an attempt to commit an act, or to 
punish for the commission of it; the act could not have 
been unrighteous, but just. If it would be an act of wick- 
edness for an invaded nation to resist the aggression, the 
cause of the invader would be just. Those who advocate 
the doctrine of non-resistance upon Christian principles 
under any circumstances whatever, fall into absurdities 
from which they cannot extricate themselves. 

But as certain as God is just. He will hold to a strict 
and awful responsibility, all those high in authority, who 
have involved nations in unnecessary wars: it cannot be 
otherwise. No nation is justifiable in going to war with 
another, because it is strong enough to do so ; and for 
such reason, and to no other cause may be traced many 
bloody wars. The greatest security a weak nation can 
have to maintain its independence, is to be constantly 
prepared for defence. Strong nations, generally act up- 
on the principle, that their interest is in accordance with 
justice, and that power constitutes right. If every nation 
was prepared to resist with effect, any attempt to invade 
its soil, wars would cease, except those of a maritime 
character. 

The writer has long entertained a hope that the advance 
of military science, by increasing the destructive power of 
gun-powder and other explosive matter, connected with 
torpedoes, sub-marine batteries and other fixtures, would 
render the destruction oi human life so great in battle, that 
nations would adopt the Quaker principles of negotiation 
and settling differences by moral means instead of an ap- 
peal to arms. A man who could invent portable and con- 
venient military apparatus, of so distructive a character, 
that an engagement between two fleets or two armies of 
equal, or unequal force, w^ould be the certain and imme- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 239 

diate destruction of one or both, would be one of the great- 
est benefactors that the world ever produced; a substan- 
tial philanthropist, holding in one hand the Quaker prin- 
ciples, and in the other sufficient power to cause them to 
be respected. The fox will not attack the lion, and a ra- 
tional man would not enter a powder-house with a fire- 
brand, and blow it up. if nothing could be accomplished 
by if, but the destruction of himself. Military science and 
Quaker principles may, and probably will, ultimately car-^ 
ry out the precepts of the Gospel. Fire engines are not 
made for the purpose of inviting incendiaries to set fire to 
cities, towns or buildings; but to quench the fire. Can- 
non, and other military weapons and fixtures are not, or 
should not be made for the purpose of inviting war or ag- 
gression, but to prevent, or resist both if peaceable means 
failed. 

The writer, from his acquaintance with Quakers, has 
often expressed the opinion that a nation of people hold- 
ing the principles of the disciples of William Penn, would 
be one of the strongest nations upon earth. The straight 
coated and straightly honest and correct Quakers, would 
give no offence, they would bear and forbear until forbear- 
ance ceased to be a virtue; but if provoked to anger and 
from anger to resistance, they would use the weapons of 
defensive warfare with deadly effect, and like the armies 
of Joshua, fight and conquer. Proof of this was given 
during the war of the Revolution ; there are indeed, ex- 
ceptions among them, and doubtless ever will be; but as 
a body, their principles, when properly understood, are 
not at variance with self-defence, so far as it is necessa- 
ry for self-preservation. 

The letter and spirit of the New Testament recognizes 
and justifies self-defence; not in a spirit of revenge, or to 
an unnecessary extent. It also, teaches forbearance, mod- 
eration, good will to all men, to pray for our enemies and 
to return good for evil; which does not conflict with the 



240 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

preservation of life, liberty and property. In some cases 
and with some men, the best and easiest means to obtain 
redress for grievances would be to return good for evil ; 
its practicable effect, in many instances, obtained redress 
and produced good will ; but with some transgressors, an 
opposite treatment; or submission to aggression is the on- 
ly alternative. 

The diffusion of Quaker principles and the advance of 
military science and destructive power, by presenting in 
one hand the olive branch of peace and good will, and in 
the other the sword of destruction, would, in the o- 
pinion of the writer be productive of great and general 
good in a national and individual point of view. The 
maxims and precepis of the New Testament, (take either 
the Catholic or Protestant translation,) are founded in plain 
common sense and sound morals and nothing mysterious 
about them. The mysteries VvTitten in that book, do not 
weaken the obligation to act in accordance with the pre- 
cepts, or conflict with the truth of the maxims. Mystery 
in a moral, intellectual and religious sense, naturally im- 
plies concealment. There is nothing mysterious in the 
moral and physical world, which we plainly see and fully 
comprehend. Some teachers in Israel rely upon the influ- 
ence of "hidden mysteries," to improve the condiiion of 
the human family, more than upon the force and beauty of 
acknov»^ledged truths. Before v/e undertake to unravel mys- 
teries, and grapple in the dark, we should diligently seek 
for improvement from the precepts and maxims referred 
to, and from natural science. The Quakers live nearer to 
the abstract Christian precepts end maxims^ than any 
class with whom the WTiter is acquainted; but their theory 
is confined too much to one side of the important subject; 
abstractly it may truly be said that it is wicked to go to 
war, and abstractly it may with equal truth be said that it 
would be wicked to imprison a man and deprive him of 
liberty. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 241 

The writer might make further quotations from the foun- 
der of Christianity in support of defence, so far as it is 
necessary for selt-preservation of a national or individual 
character ; but he deems it unnecessary, as nothing can 
be selected which conflicts with it, except by resorting to 
garbled and imperfect quotations, and drawing unnatural 
conclusions. 

Since the foregoing was written, a friend placed in tb« 
hands of the writer, ''An Inquiry into the Accordancy of 
war with the Principles of Christianity, by Jonathan Dy- 
mon," to which is added ''Notes," by Thomas Smith 
Grimke, of Charleston, South Carolina. At page 87, Mr. 
Dymon says : 

^'The chief aim," saysa judiciousauthor, "of those who 
argue in behalf of defensive war, is direct at the passions j^^ 
and, accordingly, the case of an assassin will doubtless be 
brought against me. I shall be asked, suppose a ruffian 
breaks inio your house, and rushes into your room with 
his arm lifted up to murder you, do you not believe that 
that Christianity allows you to kill him? This is the last ref- 
uge of the cause ; my answer to itis explicit — I do not be- 
lieve it. 

It was reasonable to expect that Mr. Dymon would 
have stated "explicitly" whether in such a case as he 
"supposed," and many such have occurred, he would 
have made any resistance in self-defence and for self-pres- 
ervation, 01 resorted to flight or other means. On all these 
important points he is as silent as the grave — this w^as not 
to have been expected on the part of so able a writer as 
Mr. Dymon, and requires charity to excuse his silence. — 
Was he afraid to meet the question selected by himself, 
on all is points and bearings? or w^as he too much absor- 
bed in abstractions to treat the question wdth that candor 
which the subject deserved? The answ^ers are submiited 
to the reader. If such a case had occurred, Mr. D. might 
have defended himself without killing the assailant, and 
Q 



242 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

without receiving or inflicting serious injury ; and more- 
over, might, by admonition, have reformed the morals of 
the ruffian and made him a sound Quaker. If at the mo- 
ment he finished the paragraph quoted, a ruffian or a mad- 
man had entered his room in the attitude supposed, and 
failed to accomplish his object, is it not probable that he 
would have stated the means by which his life was pre- 
served. Mr. D. would not say that Christianity forbids 
UiS from resisting an attempt by a wicked man, or one de 
ranged, to commit a murder; and to prevent either from 
doing the forbidden deed would require resistance of 
some kind. A rational man who would calmly look up- 
on the commission of murder, without an effort to prevent 
it, might be considered an accomplice, and unworthy oi 
the Christian name. 

It was reasonable to conclude that Mr. Dymon would 
propose to himself a question to the following import. — 
Suppose a ruffian was to rush into your room with a drawn 
sword to kill you, would you, or would you not, resist or 
make an effort to avert the murderous intent. Such a 
question with an '^explicit" answer was due to candor, 
to the important subject, and as a key to develope the 
principles of Quakerism. As the writer has Quaker sub- 
scribers to his book, he respectfully submits the foregoing 
question to the candid consideration of each of them. One 
extreme generally leads to another, and when it is consid- 
ered that for more than five thousand years portions of the 
human fam^iiy had almost constantly, been butchering 
each other in wars, and that since the sermon on the mount 
professing christians had been burning and roasting one 
another for differences in matters of opinion ; it is not 
wonderful that a comparative few should assert that self- 
defence for self-preservation is an act of wickedness. As 
Mr. Dymon makes no distinction betv>'een an offending 
and an unoffending nation, he could have written as instuc- 
tive '^an enquiry into the accordancy of" State prisons, 



I>01-1T1CAL KQUILIBRIUI*. 243 

*^ with the principle of Christianity." If all the human 
race were honest and peaceable, there would be no use 
for Penitentiaries for the punishment or correction of 
offenders, and war would cease. All individuals are not 
honest and peaceable, and nations are composed of indi- 
viduals. Mr. Dymon, has not said in positive terms that 
murderers, robbers, thieves and other felons ought not t-o 
be punished or corrected; but felons do not voluntarily sur- 
render themselves to be dealt with according to law. They 
must first be arrested^ which cannot be done without some 
degree of force proportioned to circumstances. A code of 
morals which denounces self-defence for self preservation, 
on the part of a nation or an individual, as anti- Christian 
and wicked, must, certainly, denounce an arrest as equal- 
ly or more wicked ; in either case force must be used. If 
a man cannot upon Christian principles, use force against 
the uplifted arm of a ruffian who seeks his life, he cannot 
use force to arrest a murderer. Mr. Dymon's publication 
upon war, like those of the ultra abolitionists upon slave- 
ry, are in a tone calculated toirritateand increase the evils 
of which they complain. 

There may be a vast difference between non-resistance, 
snd voluntary or willing submission, — this is worthy of 
serious consideration in connection with Christian princi- 
ples. Apart from the divinity of Christ, a belief that his 
death was necessary and indispensible to fulfill the proph- 
ecys and complete the scheme of salvation, there is noth- 
ing connected with his arrest, trial and crucifixtion to prove 
that he died willingly. '']\Iy God, My God, why hast 
thou forsaken me," are exclamations expressive of great 
suffering and disappointment; not of willingness to suffer 
and die — not of contentment, happiness and great joy. — 
The Catholic and Protestant translations agree. There is 
no evidence that any of the iVpostles willingly suffered 
martyrdom; and it is unreasonable to suppose that any 
righteous and sensible man ever willingly agreed to be 



244 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

executed like a felon; such piety never did nor never can 
exist among rational men. It is an old adage that 

"No rogue ever felt the halter draw. 

With good opinion of the law." 
Is it then reasonable to conclude that a pious man, who 
had violated no law human or divine, whose principles 
were peace and good will towards all men, would will- 
ingly snbmit to be executed ? It is impossible, and w^e 
should bear in mind the difference which may, and often 
does, exist between non-resistence and willing submis- 
sion. Passing from individuals to nations ; it is reason- 
able to conclude that, in many cases, perhaps in a major- 
ity of instances, an aggrieved nation might have obtained 
Jimple redress, by restrictive measures of civil policy, aud 
honorably avoid the horrors of w^ar. There would be no 
dishonor in avoiding war, if it could be avoided U'itbout 
a sacrifice of any of the rights or privileges which we 
claim. If any nation denonnced the people of the United 
States as a set of out laws and cowards, it would not jus- 
tify a declaration of war against such nation, to prove 
the denunciation false. The palpable injustice of such a 
charge wonld render it harmless, and disgrace any nation 
that would make it. 

The patriots of the Revolution did not issue a Decla- 
ration of Independence against the moiher country, until 
reason and remonstrance were exhausted in efforts to ob- 
tain relief from oppression. The only cilternatives were 
submission or an appeal to the sw^ord — the latter was the 
decision, and the result favors the opinion that Heaven 
was on the side of the Americans. Mr. Dymon who is 
an Englishman, makes no reference to that \y?.y in which 
his country v/as defeated, but denies "that wars avert 
greater evils than they occasion," asks for proof, and 
adds. "Proof has never yet been given. And even if 
we thought that we possessed such proof we should be re- 
fered to the primary question — what is the w^ill of God." 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 246 

What would be our present situation and the condition of 
the North and South American nations and their provin- 
ces, if the Colonies had not seperated from England, but 
have peaceably submitted, must be a matter of specula- 
tion and belief. Who is to decide the question ? The 
people of the United States have claimed and exercised 
the right of deciding it, their verdict is that the war of the 
Revolution ^"-averted greater evils than it occasioned.''^ — 
Under i.s blessings the Quakers, and all others, are pro- 
tected in the enjoyment of iheir religious sentiments : 
God gram that such protection may become universal.— 
That the American Revolution had an influence in pro- 
ducing the political and belligerent revolutions which sub- 
sequently followed in the Western Hemisphere, and in 
portions of Europe is generally ndmitled. It affords an 
interesting subject for divines, statesmen, philosphers and 
poets to dwell upon. Its effects upon a large portion of 
the human family, may be compared to that of a thunder 
storm upon the atmosphere, which renders it more pure 
and healthy. In a note Mr. Dymon says : 

^'It is manifest, from the New Testament, that we are 
not required to give 'a cloak,' in every case to him who 
robs us of 'a coat ;' but I think it equally manifest that 
we are required to give it not the less because he has rob- 
bed us: The circumstance of his having robbed us, does 
not entail an obligation to give, but it also does not im- 
part a permission to withhold. If the necessities of the 
plunderer require relief, it is the business of the plundered 
to relieve them." The italicising agrees with the note. 
Upon the moral and religious principle asserted in the 
note, if a thief was arraigned on proof of having* stolen 
his neighbor's only coat and could satisfy the court that 
he had none and was in need of one, it would be a legal 
and religious justification for the theft and he should be 
acquitted. C^n it be possible that Christianity sanctions 
such a code of morals, which would license loafers, thieves 



246 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 

and robbers to plunder the honest and industrious portions 
of society ? No : — The scripture upon which Mr. D. re- 
lies is as certainly figurative as the precept, "if thy right 
hand offend thee cut it off,' which, if literally carried out, 
would soon deprive every man of his right hand and we 
should from necessity become Benjaminites. 

Mr. Dymon further says, upon the authority of Eras- 
mus: "Those who defend war, must defend the disposi- 
tions which lead to war; and these disposition are abso- 
lutely forhiden by the GospeL"^^ Wiih as much or as lit- 
tle sense and truth, it may be said that those who defend 
the arresting and punishing of a murderer must defend the 
dispositions which lead to murder. The disposition is 
moral, and the act of murder and the act of arresting, are 
alike physical, and imply force, for a murderer will not 
voluntarily surrender to the ofEcers of the law, and with- 
out force or the presence of force a felon cannot be arres- 
ted. But the moral and religious principles of the Qua- 
kers are one thing in profession, and another in practice. 
Now to the praof. If a miscreant murdered one of them, 
the friends of the murdered would use legal means for the 
apprehension and conviction of the murderer; neither of 
which could be effected without force, positive or implied. 
Upon the professed principles of Quakerism, it is sinful 
to use force to arrest thieves, robbers or murderers, and 
without force they could not be arrested. 

The Writer has long believed and often said that, the 
Quakers from their intelligence and weight of moral char- 
acter, might, by a modification of their professed code of 
morals and religiDn, exercise a salutary influence in ad- 
justing difficulties between nations, without an appeal to 
the sword. But those who hold the principles of George 
Fox, (the founder of Quakerism in England, about the 
middle of the seventeenth century,) will not serve in a 
judicial or legislative capacity; they will, however, act as 
jurors, except, perhaps^ in criminal cases in which death 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 247 

is the penalty on conviction. Our civil and criminal code 
of laws would be of none effect, if they did not authorize 
arrests by the application of force when necessary; and the 
application of coersion is often indispensible to carry out 
the law after conviction. The moral code of abstractions 
laid down by Mr. Dymon, will not allow of force under 
any circumstances w^hatever. A law w'hich w^ould not al- 
low of arrest by force, if necessary, would, in effect, be a 
license to the wncked lo plunder and murder the honest 
and industrious portion of the human race. Is this Chris- 
tianity? Is it the meaning of the text "resist not evil?" — 
If yea, all human laws should be abolished ; or does the 
text mean that we should appeal to law for redress, and 
not decide in our own cases, except so far as self-defence 
is necessary. It may be said that all men should be peace- 
able and honest — true, but all men are not so, and laws 
are necessary to punish or correct them. Mr. Dymon was 
undoubtedly influenced by pure motives in writing his book 
but it would be a dangerous and demoralizing work in the 
hand of wicked men, as it, in effect, postpones the trial 
of crimes to the next w^orld, which would not be a scare- 
crow to depraved men. "The law is not made for a right- 
eous man, but for the lawless and disobedient," and a 
law would be useless without authority to carry it into ef- 
fect. 

"During the first tw^o hundred years," says Mr. D. 
"not a Christian soldier is on record," and he names 
Christians w^ho suffered death rather than engage in war 
between anti- Christian nations; which proves nothing a- 
gainst the right of self-defence for self-preservation in a na- 
tional or individual sense; neither does it prove that they 
died willingly. There are, doubtless, at this day men who 
w^ould suffer death rather than engage in w^ar under any cir- 
cumstances; but the number is few, and does not include 
all w^ho profess the principles of Quakerism — they are a 
people who wall not suffer themselves trampled upon, the' 



248 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 

religious advocates for peace. But a lar2:e majority of in- 
telligent Christians, believe from reading the Jewish and 
Christian scriptures that they authorzie self-defence when 
necessary for self-preservation in a national and iiidividual 
point of view. The art of printing was not known until 
about the middle of the fifteenth century, and during the 
second, the manuscript books of the New Testament were 
scattered and concealed by the faihers of the church, and 
the books of the Old Testament were in the hands of the 
Jewish Priesthood. Is it not then more than probable 
that those who suffered death during the second century 
never read the books of the New Testament? It is wor- 
thy of consideration, however, whether the people of the 
United States are not becoming too warlike. That there 
is an increasing disposition to reject Statesmen and select 
heroes for the highest civil stations is apparent. 

Between the extremes of non-resistance under any circum- 
stances w^hatever, and that of unnecessary war, there is a 
difference, a just temperature, more likely to be seen and 
acted upon by a grave and enlightened Statesman than by 
the skilful hero. But morality, justice and Christianity 
are secondary considerations, in comparison with party 
organization ; the Quaker and the military hero are alike 
governed by political party, without regard to religion. 

''Why indeed," says Mr. D. "do we urge the conduct 
of Peter ai all, when that conduct was immediately con- 
demned by Christ? And, had it not been condemned, 
how^ happens it, that if he allowed his followers the use of 
arms, he healed the only w^ound which we find they ever 
inflicted with them." The foregoing appears to be con- 
sidered by its author as conclusive against the use of arms 
in the hands of Christians under any circumstances what- 
ever, and his friend Grimke in note L endorses for him. 
Were it not for the gravity of the subject, the argument, 
if indeed it deserves the name of argument, might elicit 
ridicule rather than serious consideration. All armies are 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 249 

accompanied by surgeons, to dress and heal the wounded 
and agreeably to the logic of Mr. D. all those engaged in 
war were opposed to war, and by the same parity of argu- 
ment, Buonaparie must have been a Quaker in principle, 
for his armies were always attended by the best of sur- 
geons. Apart from the divinity of Christ, and the miri- 
cle performed by healing the ear of the servant by a touch, 
he done nothing more than any man of well regulated 
mind wo dd do under similar circumstances. Perhaps the 
reason why Peter was not held legally responsible for cut- 
ting ''off" the servant's ear, was that the miracle perform- 
ed in healing it, which if it had been proven to the satis- 
faction of Pilate, might have satisfied him of the divinity 
of Christ and have silenced his accusers. Peter acted le- 
gally and morally wrong, as much so, as would be the act 
of a man at this day, who would resist an officer legally 
authorized to arrest. He was not justifiable nor excusa- 
ble on the ground that his Lord and master had done no 
wrong, but great good; his rash and improper act was 
condemned by Christ who plainly told him that ihose who 
improperly used the sword ''shall perish wiih the sword.'' 
Not may, but 'shall perish,' and by those against whom 
it is improperlv used, is the plain meaning of the words; 
not that those who took the sword would become suicides 
and use it to their own destruction. And in the rebuke 
of Peter, and healing of the ear, tlie divine right of self- 
defence is plainly implied. Other passages in the New 
Testament might be quoted in support of the divine right of 
self-defence, when necessary for self-preservation; but 
the one quoted is sufficient. Peter was an imprudent and 
vacillating disciple who after his improper use of the 
sword, and when he considered his life or liberty in dan- 
ger, denied his master. 

Mr. D. denies a right to take the life of a murderer, and 
says: "If any one urges this rule against us, vv^e reply, 
that it is not a rule of Christianity; and if the necessity of 



250 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

demanding blood for blood is an everlasting principle of 
retributive justice, how happens it that in the first case 
in which murder was committed, the murderer was not 
put to death?" For all we know there may have been miii^ 
gating circumstances, and probably was. Abel may have 
used the first offensive language and struck the first blow, 
and Cain may have retaliated further than necessity re- 
quired, by killing his brother. Besides, God had a right 
to commute punishment, or grant a full pardon. 

In referring to the wars under the old dispensation, 
Mr. D. admits that ^'some w^ars were allowed,or that they 
were enjoined upon the Jews as an imperative duty." — 
In the same paragraph he says: ''War, in the abstract, 
w^as never commanded." All of which is admitted, and 
further, that violence in the abstract was never command- 
ed. But if it could be proven that Deity, ever pronounced 
a war wricked, under circumstances precisely the same as 
those under which he had commanded and approved of 
war, it would be primafacy evidence that His mind might 
again chmge upon the subject. It would be presumption to 
ascribe to the great I AM, such a change, or to suppose 
that he is not as careful of the Christians as He was of the 
Jews^ or that the right of protection for preservation, which 
was granted to the latter is withdrawn from the former. — 
Would it not be presumption to say that God changes as 
does man? or, what is right in His sight at one time, is, 
under similar circumstancs, wrong at another. 

The settlement of Pennsylvania by the Quakers, under 
the government of William Penn, without molestation 
by the Indians, except in a few cases, is introduced by 
Mr. D. as strong evidence in support of non-resistance. — 
When the American Indians were first discovered by the 
Europeans, they were civil, and viewed the white men as 
supernatural beings; and it was not until ihe white men, 
cruelly and unprovokedly attacked the red men, that the 
latter shed the blood of the former, — the whites were the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 251 

original aggressors, and ihe Indians acted on the defen- 
sive. Penn was cunning and a good judge of human na- 
ture, and purchased the land from ihe Indians upon bet- 
ter and cheaper terms than he could have wrested ihem by 
military power. The lands w^ere surveyed, in some cases 
by fleet w^alkers without the aid of chain and compass, — 
this mode w^as as ingenious as pious; but it argues noth- 
ing against ihe justice of self-defence, when necessary for 
self-preservation. 

''If it be said" says Mr. D. ''ihat Christianity allows to 
individuals some degree and kind ofresistance, and that some 
resistance is therefore lawful to states, we do not deny it. 
Biit if it be said that the degiee of lawful resistance ex- 
tends to the slaughter of our fellow Christians — that it ex- 
tends to war — we do deny it. We say that the rules of 
Christianity cannot, by any possible latitude of interpreta- 
tion be made to extend to it." In the foregoing ihe right of 
resistance in some degree is conceded to individuals and 
nations; but to what extent or under what circumstances 
is not stated by Mr. D. Suppo:se one or more naiions w^ere 
to determine lo conquer and colonize ihe United States; 
w^e might upon the Christian principles admitted, make 
some resistance, bnt if not lo an ex ent sufficient to pre- 
serve our independence, the re^^istance granted would be a 
mockery. It would be ijupious to say that Christianity 
allows any degree of resistance to an individual or a na- 
tion; but not to a length sufficient to accomplish ihe ob- 
ject for which resistance is allowable. If Christianity al- 
lows of any resistance on the part of an individual or a 
nation, under any circumstances whatever, it must una- 
voidably allow the resistance to go as far as would be ne- 
cessary to consummaie the object for which resistance is 
justifiable. 

The Jewish and Christian religion forbid murder, and 
if no penalty was annexed for the commission of the act 
nor any grant given to an individual to resist an attempt 



252 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

to murder him, the forbid of murder would be unfounded 
in fact or a mockery. If Christianity allows an unoffend- 
ing individual to resist a miscreant in an atiempt to mur- 
der him, it must either allow the resistance to go as far 
as necessary, if to the extreme of killing the assailant, or 
it must, in effect, authorize the murdering of the unoffend- 
ing man. We must come to one or the other conclusion, 
we must admit ihat Christianity gives a decided prefer- 
ence to the life of a lawless ruffian, or, to that of a pious and 
unoffending man; and w4iat is said of individuals will ap- 
ply to nations. It may be said that nations and individ- 
uals, who first acted on the defensive, went further than 
necessary; and become aggressors, granted: — The same 
may be said of all the rights, privileges and blessing be- 
stowed upon us; some have abused them. 

Mr. Dymon, says no'hing about the war in Heaven, — 
It would not do to say that the account is figurative; there 
is nothing figurative about it; nor would it do to say that 
as no weapons are spoken of that there was no actual 
war, except of a moral character. No one who will read 
the statement by Sf. John, can doubt that force was used 
on both sides; unless he rejects the whole statement, and 
if so, he may reject or call in question the validity of ihe 
entire scriptures The names of the commanders are giv- 
en. Michael, who was a distinguished commander in 
this world, on one side, and Satan, who first made his ap- 
pearance in the garden of Eden on the other. What would 
have been the consequence, if nil on ihe side of Michael 
had been Quakers? In the opinion of the writer, they 
would have been as brave and victorious as the soldiers 
under Joshua, of olden times; an over match for the army 
of Satan. That war St. John testifies occurred in Heav- 
en during his abode on ihe isle of Patmos, and after the 
ascension of Christ; this statement must be literally true 
or false. 

In the onward march of mind and rational religioujthe 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 263 

abstract principles of Quakerism may, and probably will, 
be modified and extended to nesessary self-defence, and 
arranged in juxtaposition with military power for defer? ce 
and preservation, and may be the means by which Provi- 
dence will introduce the millenium, and teach all nations 
*^to beat sheir swords into plough-shares and their spears 
into pruning hooks." The New Testament is the best book 
that can be read upon the subject, and in all ages and 
countries in which it was generally read the morals of the 
people were improved; while the clergy are of minor con- 
sideration compared with it. 



CHAPTER XI. 
Hon. henry CLAY. 

On Protective Duties and National Economy. 

Having given the sentiments of President Jackson, Mr. 
Mason and Mr. Calhoun, in opposition to fostering home- 
industry, and in support of foreign labor and the policy 
of European nations to keep us in a state of dependence 
and poverty, it is the duty ot the writer, as an impartial 
copyist, (but exclusively American in principles) to lay be- 
fore the reader some arguments in support of the invigora- 
ting policy of the American System. He copies from a 
speech delivered by the Hon. Henry Clay in the Senate 
in February, 1832, in reply to Hon. R. Y. Hayne, a cot- 
ton planter from S. Carolina. Mr. Clay's remarks are not 
clothed in metaphysical speculations; they are plain and 
easy to comprehend and are impressed wiih a brilliant ge- 
nius, which as naturally flows from Mr. Clay as rays of 
light from the sun. 

He is, however, too great a man for the age, or tht 



254 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

circumstances under which he lives. Adnniredforhls su- 
perior talents, brilliant genius, pacific and compromising 
disposition, throughout all civilized nations, and acknowl* 
edged by all intelligent men to be wholly American in his 
principles; yet he is restricted by the party name of dem- 
ocrat, which is more popular than that of whig. Knowl* 
edge is progressive and the mass of the people morally 
and politically honest; which affords grounds of hope, that 
the magic power of a party name will be superseded by 
reason, and the American principle of fostering home in- 
dustry carried out; all that any class of the people require 
is correct information upon the subject. 

After his introduction, and some remarks of a general 
character, Mr. Clay said — 

^'Eight years ago it was my painful duty to present to 
the other house of Congress, an unexaggerated picture of 
the general distress pervading the whole land. We all 
know that the people were then oppressed and borne down 
by an enormous load of debts; that the value of property 
was at thelovvest point of depression; that ruinous sales 
and sacrifices were every where made of real estate; that 
stop laws and relief laws and paper money were adopted 
to save the people from depending destruction; that a de- 
ficit in the public revenue existed, which compelled gov- 
ernment to sieze upon, and divert from its legitimate ob- 
ject, the appropriation to the sinking fund, to redeem the 
national debt; and that our commerce and navigation were 
threatened with a complete paralysis. In short, sir, if I 
w^ere to selet any terra of seven years since the adoption 
of the present constitution, which exhibited a scene of the 
most wide-spread dismay and desolation, it would be ex- 
actly that term of seven years which immediately preceded 
the establishment of the tariff of 1824." 

^'I have now to perform the pleasing task of exhibiting 
an imperfect sketch of the existing state of the unparallel- 
ed prosperity of the country. On the general survey we 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 355 

behold cultivation extended, the arts flourishing, the face 
of the country improved, our people fully and profitably 
employed, and the public countenance exhibiting tranquil- 
ity, contentment and happiness. And, if we transcend in- 
to particulars, we have the agreeable contemplation of a 
people out of debt; land rising slowly in value, but in a se- 
cure and salutary degree; a ready, though not an extrava- 
gant, market for all ihe surplus productions of our industry; 
innumerable flocks and herds brov/sing and gambolling on 
ten thousand hills and plains covered with rich and verdant 
grasses; our cities expanded; and whole villages springing 
up, as it were, by enchantment; our exports and imports 
increasing; our tonnage, foreign and coast- wise, swelling 
and fully occupied; the rivers of our interior animated by 
the perpetual thunder and lightning of countless steam- 
boats; the currency sound and abundant; the public debt 
of two wars nearly redeemed; and, to crown all, the pub- 
lic treasury overflowing, embarrassing Congress, not to 
find subjects of taxation, but to select the objects which 
shall be liberated from the impost. If the term of seven 
years were to be selected, of the greatest prosperity which 
this people has enjoyed since the establishment of their 
present consiitution, it would be exactly that period of 
seven years which immediately followed the passage of 
the tariff* of 1824." 

''This transformation of the condition of the country 
from gloom and distress to brightness and prosperity, has 
been mainly the work of American legislation; fostering 
American industry instead of allowing it to be controlled 
by foreign legislation, cherishing foreign industry. The 
foes of the iVmerican System, in 1824, with the great bold- 
ness and confidence, predicted, 1st — The ruin of the pub- 
lic revenue and the creation of a necessity to resort to di- 
rect taxation. 2nd — The destruction of our navigation. 
3rd — The desolation of commercial cities. And 4th — The 
augmentation of the price of objects of consumption ancj 



256 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

further decline in that of articles of our exports. Every 
prediction which they made has failed — utterly failed. - 
Instead of the ruin of the public revenue wi;h which they 
then sought to deter us from the adoption of ihe American 
System, we are now threatened with its subversion, by the 
vast amount of public revenue produced by that system. 
Every branch of our navigation has increased. As to the 
desolation of our cities, let us take, as an example, the 
condition of the largest and most commercial of all of tnem 
the great northern capital. I have in my hands the assess- 
ed value of real estate in New York, from 1817 to 1831. 
This value is canvassed, contested, scrutinized and adjud- 
ged by the proper sworn authorities. It is, therefore en- 
titled to full credence. During the first term commencing 
wdth 1817, and ending in the year of the tariff of 1824, the 
amount of the value of real estate was the first year, fifty- 
seven millions, seven hundred and ninety-nine thousand, 
four hundred and thirty-five dollars, and, after various fluc- 
tuations in the intermediate period, it settled down atfifiy- 
two millions nineteen thousand seven hundred and thirty 
dollars, exhibiting a decrease, in seven years, of five rail- 
lions, seven hundred and seventy-nine thousand, seven 
hundred and five dollars. During the first year (1825) af- 
ter the passage of the tariff, it arose and gradually ascen- 
ding throughout the whole of the latter period of seven 
years it finally, in 1831, reached the astonishing height 
of ninety-five millions, seven hundred and sixteen thou- 
sand, four hundred and eighty-five dollars. Now, if it be 
said that this rapid growth of the city of New York was 
the effect oi foreign commerce^ then, it was not correctly 
predicted in 1824, that the tariff would destroy foreign 
commerce and desolate our commercial cities. If, on the 
contrary, it be the effect of internal trade, then internal 
trade cannot be justly chargeable with the evil consequen- 
ces imputed to it. The truth is, it is the joint effect of both 
principles; the domestic industry nourishing the foreign 



POLITICAL EQUILlBRItTM, 257 

irade, and the foreign commerce, in turn, nourishing th« 
domestic industry* Nowhere, more than in New York, 
is the combination of both principles so completely devel- 
oped* In the progress of my arguments, I will consider 
the effect upon the price of commodities, produced by the 
American System, and show that the very reverse of the 
prediction of its foes, in 1824, has actually happened." 

Appended to Mr. Clay's speech is an appendix, show* 
ing the tonnage of the United States for each year from 
1815 to 1829, inclusive. Also, ihe value of real estate in 
New York, for each year from 1817 to 1831, inclusive. — 
The increase of tonnage from 1815 to 1829 was four hun- 
dred and fifty thousand, threehundred and sixty-three tons* 
It is worthy of remark, also, that the tonnage, at the close 
of the year 1823, was forty-one thousand, five hundred and 
sixty-two tons less than at the close of the year 1815; and 
consequently that the tonnage, shipping and commerce 
were decreasing from 1817 up to the tariff of 1824. The 
actual increase of the tonnage from 1824 to 1829, both in- 
clusive, is four hundred and ninety-one thousand, nine 
hundred and twenty-five tons; equal to the tonnage of four 
hundred ships of the line, or eight hundred merchant ships 
of the first class; and actually increasing the number of 
merchant vessels to the burthen and capacity of eight 
hundred first-rate merchant ships; giving employment to 
mechanics in building and repairing them, and regular em- 
ployment to six or eight thousand seamen in navigating 
them. It appears, then, from official documents, that, in 
the absence of a protecting tariff, our ships decrease in 
number and burthen: our commerce is less productive; the 
energy of man is paralyzed and he is disheartened. Such 
is the connection between our commercial, manufacturing 
and agricultural transactions, that, to speak figuratively; 
they are partners'^ the interest of one is the interest of all. 
They may be compared to joint-partners, owning all the 
property and money of the nation and trading on it,— » 



258 POLITICAL EQUILIBKIUM* 

Whatever policy injures one partner, injures all; and vice 
verstty the policy which benefits one, benefits all. The 
most uncompronaising opponents of protection admit that 
it lowers the price of some articles, but contend that it 
raises the price of others. Not a single fact has been pre- 
sented in support of the latter, and all their arguments 
have been founded upon immaginary premises which have 
no foundation or connection with fact. Any man can ar- 
gue as well from false as from true premises. Suppose it 
be assumed that a man has committed a murder; if inno- 
cent, his innocence could not avail him anything; if the 
charge is to be assumed as a fact, his innocence could 
have no influence with the court or jury. 

The reader will bear in mind that a tariff, to be protec- 
tive, must be discriminating; without which it is impossi- 
ble to produce and preserve an eqilibrium upon beneficial 
principles. It is intended to be applied to such articles, 
only as are in their original or raw state— of the vegetable 
or mineral productions of the United States. 

We will take the foregoing as our text, though it would 
have been more appropriate at the commencement of the 
discourse. A tariff upon tea and coffee could only be ap- 
plicable to revenue for the support of government, not pro- 
tection. No man, in his senses, will say that a tariff upon 
tea and coffee would reduce ihe price to the consumer; but 
it is asserted, upon proof as self-evident to any inquiring, 
intelligent, and unprejudiced man as is his own existence 
that it does reduce the price of various articles which, in 
their raw and unpolished state, are of the vegetable and 
mineral produciions of our country. 

The appendix gives the assessed value of real property 
in New Nork each year, from 1817 to 1831, inclusive. — 
There was, it is believed, no expansion or contraction of 
the limits of the city during the period of fourteen years. 
The depreciation during the seven years which preceded 
the tariff of 1824, and the increase during the seven years 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 259 

which followed, are as astonishing as they are interesting 
and are among the many arguments in favor of the pro- 
tective system which cannot be refuted. That the pro- 
tective system would produce great and general benefits, 
can be as clearly demonstrated, to the satisfation of an in- 
telligent and unbiassed mind, as that two and three make 
five. But, alas! it is a whig measure. 

The Globe gives a report of a debate in the Senate of 
the United Siates in which there was some sharp shooting 
by both parties, particularly from their heavy artillery; but 
little use was made of muskets, in which Mr. Bagby, a 
democratic senator, is reported to have said: "For his 
own part, if the devil, himself, w^ere to recommend to this 
Congress a measure which he (Mr. B,) thought to be 
right, he would not be so far blinded as to refuse to do 
what his judgment and his conscience dictated." The 
sentiment advanced by Mr. Bagby contains a sound prin- 
ciple, to support or oppose measures from the dictates of 
conscience, and with reference to the general good, with- 
out regard to party. If opposing politicians would discuss 
subjects w^ith a view of discriminating between proper and 
improper measures, party politicians would be a blessing. 
But, unfortunately for us, the inquiry frequently arises, 
"Is he a democrat or a whig?" "Is it a whig or a dem- 
ocratic measure?" Upon all subjects, unconnected with 
politics, the people of the United States, are earnestly in 
search of truth, and using laudable means in the pursuit 
of happiness. "Measures and not men," is a w^holesome 
political maxim; but party, not measures, is an unwhole- 
some principle, productive of, and producing much evil. 
We continue the quotation: 

"It comprehends our coasting trade, from U'hich all 
foreign tonnage is absolutely excluded. 

"It includes all our foreign tonnage, with the inconsid- 
erable exception made by treaties of reciprocity wuth a 
few foreign powers. 



260 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 

It embraces our fisheries, and all our hardy and enter- 
prising fishermen. 

"It extends to almost every mechanic art; to tanners, 
cord-wainers, tailors, cabinet-makers, tallow-chandlers, 
trace-makers rope- makers cork-cutters, tobacconists whip- 
makers, umbrella-makers, glass blowers, stocking-weav- 
ers, button-makers, saddle and harness-makers, cullers, 
brush-makers, book-binders, dairy -men; milk-farmers, 
black-smiths, type-founders, musical instrument makers, 
basket makers, milliners, potters, chocolate makers, floor- 
cloth makers, bonnet-makers, hair-cloth-makers, copper- 
smiths, pencil makers, bellows-makers, pocket-book ma- 
kers, card makers, glue makers, mustard makers, lumber 
sawyers, saw makers, scale-beam makers, scythe makers, 
wood-saw makers, and many oihers. The mechanics enu- 
merated, enjoy a measure of protection adapted to their 
several conditions, varying from twenty to fifty per cent. 
The extent and importance of some of these artizans may 
be estimated by a few particulars. The tanner, currier, 
boot and shoe makers, and other workers, in hides, skins 
and leather, produce an ultimate value per annum of for- 
ty millions of dollars; the manufacturers of hats and caps 
produce an annual value of fifteen millions; the cabinet- 
makers, twelve millions; the manufacturers of bonnets and 
hats for the female sex, lace, artificial flowers, combs, &c., 
seven millions; and the manufacturers of glass, five mil- 
lions. 

"It affects the cotton planter himself, and the tobacco 
planter, both of whom enjoy protection. To say nothing 
of the cotton produced in other foreign countries,the cul- 
tivation of this article, of a very superior quality, is con- 
stantly extending in the adjacent Mexican provinces, and 
but for the duty, probably a large amount would be intro- 
duced into the United States, down Red river and along 
the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. 

"The total amount of capital vested in sheep,the land to 



yOlilTlOAL EQUILIBRIUM. 26l 

sustain thera, wool, wollen manufacturers and wollen fab- 
rics, and the subsistence of the various persons djrectly 
employed in the growth and manufacture of the article of 
wool, is estimated at one hundred and sixty seven millions 
of dollars, and the number of persons at one hundred and 
fifty thousand." We annex the following table from the 
appendix;— 

"This is the summary report and estimates of the com- 
mittee of the New York convention, on the manufactures 
of w^ool, published in ihe addendum to the last volume of 
the Reporter, and it is unnecessary (for us) to do more 
than give its results. 
''It is estimated that there are 20 millions 

of sheep in the U. S., worth |2 each. $40,000,000 
^'That it requires six millions, six hundred 

and sixty-six thousand, six hundred and 

sixty-six acres of land (at 3 sheep to the 

acre) to feed them, at $10 an acre. 65,000,000 



$105,000,000 
^'That these sheep produce 50 

millions pounds of wool, 

worth 40 cents per pound. $20,000,000 
. (That the crop of 1831 was 

worth 25 millions) 

That the value of the cloth 

made from this wool is 40,000,000 

That the fixed and floating 

capital vested in the wollen 

manufacture is 40,000,000 

Capital in the growth and manufacture of 

wool $145,000,000 

That fif'y thousand persons are employed, and one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand subsisted, by the manufactures of 
wool; and these consume three millions, seven hundred 
md fifty thousand dollars worthy annually, of agricultural 



262 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

productions. That to supply these with food, Sec, requires 
one million, five hundred thousand acres of land, worth 
S15 the acre, amounting to $22,500,000. Total capital 
involved, one hundred and sixty-seven millions, five hun- 
dred thousand dollars." 

The agriculturists and the manufacturer may examine 
the foregoing table with the most pleasing sensations. — 
The links which connect them in interest cannot be sepe- 
rated without injuring both. They may figuratively be 
compared to twin-brothers — the former being as nearly 
connected in interest as are the latter m blood. Besides, 
this policy, inculcates industry, produces sound morals 
and substantial comfort. Idleness, whether from neces- 
sity or choice, is the parent of evil. Admitting the truth 
of the proposition, that there is no general rule without 
exceptions, an idler is vicious, in degrees regulated or 
controlled by circumstances. An idler from necessity is 
deserving of commiseration; but, like the idler from choice 
must be unproductive, and the longer he continues unem- 
ployed, whetherfrom necessity orfor the want of industry, 
the more impure will become his morals. Idleness and vice 
are so closely connected that they live and die together; 
they are almost synonymous terms. It would be difficult 
to find a man, who deserves the character of an idler, who 
is not vicious. The term idler does not apply to the in- 
firm or insane; neither does it apply to the wealthy portion 
of the community, many of whom do not work at the an- 
vil or the bench, or guide the plough. The wealthy men 
in the United States cannot, with justice, be termed idlers. 
If they are professional men they labor with their minds; 
if merchants or land-hclders, they labor in both body and 
mind; if retired, and living on iheir incomes, they devote 
a portion of their time in reading and acquiring knowl- 
edge, and by diffusing it, add to the moral and physical 
strength and energy of the nation. 

''The value of iron^" said Mr. C.3 ''Considered as a 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 263 

raw material, and of its manufactures, is estimated at 
twenty-six millions of dollars per annum. Cotton goods, 
exclusive of the capital vested in the manufacture, and of 
the cost of the raw material, are believed to amount, an- 
nually, to about twenty millions of dollars. 

''These estimates have been carefully made, by prac- 
tical men, of undoubted character, who have brought to- 
gether and embodied their information. Anxious to avoid 
exaggeration, they have sometimes placed their estimates 
below what was believed to be the actual amount of these 
interests. With regard to the quantity of bar and other 
iron, annually produced, it is derived from the known 
works themselves; and I know some in the western states 
which they have omitted in their calculations. 

''Such are some of the items of this vast system of pro- 
tection, which it is now proposed to abandon. We might 
well pause and contemplate, if human imagination could 
conceive the extent of mischief and ruin from its total over- 
throw, before w^e proceed to the work of destruction. Its 
duration is worthy, also, of serious consideration. Not to 
go behind the constitution, its date is coeval with that in- 
strument. It began on the memorable 4th July — the 4th 
day of July, 1789. The second act which stands recorded 
in the statute book, bearing the illustrious signature of 
George Washington, laid the corner stone of the whole. 
That there might be no mistake about the wdiole matter, 
it w^as then solemnly proclaimed to the American people 
and to the world, that it was necessary for "the encour- 
agement and j^ro^edioTz of manufactures," that duties should 
be laid. It is in vain to urge the small amount of the mea- 
sure of protection then extended. The great principle was 
then established by the fathers of the Consutution, with 
the father of his country at their head. And it cannot now 
be questioned, that, if the government had not then been 
new and the subject untried, a greater measure of protec- 
tion would have been applied, if it had been supposed ne- 



264 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

cessary. Shortly after, the master minds of Jefferson and 
Hamilton were biought to act upon this interesting sub- 
ject. Taking views of it appertaining to the departments 
of foreign affairs and of the treasury, which they respect- 
fully filled, they presented, severally, reporis which yet re- 
main monuments of their profound wisdom, and came to 
the same conclusion of protection to American industry. 
Mr. Jefferson argued that foreign restrictions, foreio^n pro- 
hibitions and foreign high duties ought to be met, at home 
by American restrictions, American prohibitions and Amer- 
ican high duties. Mr. Hamilton, surveying the whole 
ground and looking at the inherent nature of the subject^ 
treated it with an ability which, if ever equalled^ has not 
been surpassed, and earnestly recommended protection. 

''The wars of the French revolution commenced about 
this periodj and streams of gold poured into the United 
States through a thousand channels, opened or enlarged 
by th^ successful commerce which our neutrality enabled 
us to prosecute. We forgot or overlooked, in the general 
prosperity, the necessity of encouraging our domestic man- 
ufactories. Then came the edicts of Napoleon, and the 
British orders in council; and our embargo, non-intercourse 
non-importation,, and war followed in rapid succession. 
These national measures, amounting to a total suspension 
for the period of their duration, of our foreign commerce 
afforded the most efScalious encouragement to American 
manufactures; and, accordingly, they every where sprung 
up. Whilst these measures of restriction and this state of 
war continued, the manufactures were stimulated in their 
enterprises by easy assurance of support, by public senti- 
ment, and by legislative resolves. It was about that period 
(1808,) that S. Carolina bore her high testimony to the 
wisdom of the policy, in an act of her legislature^ the pre- 
amble of which is now before me, reads, 'Whereas the es- 
tablishment and encouragement oi domestic manufactures 
is conducive to the interest of a state^ by adding new ia- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 265 

centives to industry, and as being the means of disposing, 
to advantage, the surplus productions of ihe agriculturists. 
And whereas, in the present unexampled state of the world 
their estsbblishment in our country is not only expedient, 
but politic, in rendering us mdependent of foreign nation. 
The legislature not being competent to afford the most 
efficatious aid, by imposing duties on foreign articles, pro- 
ceeded to incorporate a company. 

^'Peace under the treaty of Ghent, returned in 1815 but 
there did not return with it the golden days which preceed- 
ed the edicts leveled at our commerce by Great Britain 
and France. It found all Europe tranquilly resuming all 
the arts nnd business of a civil life. It found Europe no 
longer the consumer of our surplus, and the employer of 
our navigation, but excluding, or heavily burdening, al- 
most all the productions of our agriculture, and our rivals 
in manufactures, in navigation and commerce. It found 
our country, in short, in a situation totally different from 
all the past — new and untried. It became necessary to a- 
dopt our laws, and especially our laws of imports, to the 
new circumstances in which we found ourselves. Accord- 
ingly, that eminent and lamented citizen, then atiihe head 
of (he treasury, (Mr. Dallas,) was required by a resolution 
of the house of representative, under date, February 23d5 
1815, to prepare and report to the succeeding session of 
Congress a system of revenue conformable with the actual 
condition of the country. # * *= * He says, in 
his report: — "There are few, if any governments, which 
do not regard the establishment of domestic manufactures 
as a chief object of public policy. The United States have 
always so regarded It. ^^ * ^ * * * * 

"The subject of the American system was again brought 
up in 1820 by the bill reported by the chairman of ihe 
committee of the manufactures, now a memberof the bench 
of the supreme Court of the United Siates, and the prin- 
ciple was successfully maintained by the representatives of 



266 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the people; but the bill which they passed was defeated 
in the Senate. It was revived in 1824, the whole ground 
carefully and deliberately explored, and the bill, then in- 
troduced, receiving all the sanctions of the Constitution, 
became the law of the land. An amendment of the system 
was proposed in 1828, to the history of which, I refer 
with no agreeable recollections. The bill of that year, in 
some of its provisions, was framed upon principles directly 
adverse to the declared wishes of the friends of protection. 
^ * ^ ^ The bill passed notwithstanding 
it having been thought better to take the bad along with 
the good it contained, than to reject it altogether. Subse- 
quent legislation has corrected the error then perpetrated, 
but still that measure is vehemently denounced by gentle- 
men who contributed to make it what it was. 

^'Thus, sir, has the great system of protection been 
gradually built, stone upon stone, and step by step, from 
the 4th day of July 1789, down to the present period. In 
every stage of its progress it has received the deliberate 
sanction of Congress. A vast majority of the people of 
the United States have approved, and continues to approve 
it. Every chief magistrate of the United States, from 
Washington to the present, in some form or other, has 
given to it the authority of his name; and, however the 
opinions of the exisiing president are interpreted south of 
Mason's and Dixon's line, on the north they are, at least, 
understood to favor the establishment of a judicious tar- 
iff." 

The reader will bear in mind that president Jackson, in 
his second annual message of December 1830, was an ad- 
vocate of a protective tariff; and there cannot be found in 
any of his subsequent messages, any evidence of his hav- 
ing changed his sentiments, until we arrive at his eighth 
and last annual communication: his reasons having been 
given in preceeding pages need not be repeated. 

^^Nor has the system, (said Mr. Clay,) which has been 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 267 

the parent source of so much benefit to other parts of the 
Union, proved injurious to the cotton growing country. I 
cannot speak of South Carohna itself, where I have never 
been, with so much certainty; but of other portions of the 
Union in which cotton is s^rown, especially those border- 
ing on the Mississippi, I can confidently speak. If cotton 
planting is less profitable than it was, that is the result of 
increased productions; but I believe it to be siill the most 
profitable investment of capital of any branch of business 
in the United States. And if a committee were raised to 
send for persons and papers, I take upon myself to say, 
that such would be the result of the inquiry. In Kentucky 
I know many individuals who have their cotton planta- 
tions below, and retain their residence in that state, where 
they remain during the sickly season; and they are all, I 
believe, without exception, doing w^ell. Others tempted 
by their success, are consequently engaged in the business, 
whilst scarcely any comes from the cotton region to en- 
gage in western agriculture. A friend now in my eye, a 
member of this body, upon a capital of less than seventy 
thousand dollars invested in a plantation and slaves, made 
the year before last, sixteen thousand dollars. A member 
of the other house, I understand, who without removing 
himself, sent some of his slaves to Mississippi, made last 
year, about twenty per cent. Two friends of mine, in the 
latter state, whose annual income is from thirty to sixty 
thousand dollars, being anxious to curtail their business, 
have offered to sell their estates, which ihey are w^illing to 
show^ by regular vouchers of receipt and disbursement yield 
eighteen per cent, per annum. One of my most opulent 
acquaintances, in a county adjoining to that in which I re- 
side, having married in Georgia, has derived a large por- 
tion of his wealth from a cotton estate there situated." 

During the year 1832 the people of South Carolina 
were almost in a state of rebellion. A state convention 
assembled and declared the tariff acts of May, I8283 and 



268 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

July, 1832 "unauthorized by the Constitution of the Uni- 
ted States, and violate the true meaning and intent there- 
of, and are null and void, and no law." It was further 
''ordained, that in no case of law or equity, decided in the 
courts of said state, wherein shall be drawn in question 
the validity of said ordinance, or the acts of the legisla- 
ture that may be passed to give it effect, or of the said laws 
of the United Sta'es, no appeals shall be allowed to the 
Supreme Court of the United States, nor shall any copy of 
the record be permitted or allowed for that purpose, and 
that any person attempting to take such appeal shall be 
punished as for contempt of court." See President Jack- 
son's proclamation of December 11th, 1832. 

The convention passed various other ordinances of a 
very inflammatory charac er. Declaring a determination to 
withdraw from the union if the tariff laws were not repeal- 
ed or modified. It is proper to state that South Carolina 
is a cotton growing state, and after the raw article passed 
through a gin it is packed in bales and shipped lo Europe 
or to the manufacturers of the eastern section of our Union. 
The spinning wheel and loom are but little used in South 
Carolina, and it is probable that many of the inhabitants 
never saw either. Their mechanical genius goes but little 
beyond the cotton gin, worked by their mules and tended 
by their negroes. Consequently they have to clothe them- 
selves and negroes with foreign fabrics, skins, 'fig-leaves,' 
or adopt the only alternative. They, therefore, argue that 
a duty on imported cotton fabrics, lower ihe price of their 
exorted raw cotton in the European markets; and assum- 
ing the proposition as a fact, they next modestly contend 
that the tariff should be so adjusted as to protect the 
growers of cotton only; no other interest is to be taken 
into consideration. The writer understands that the cloth- 
ing of a grown negro in South Carolina does not cost more 
annually, than shoes for a mule. They do not take into 
consideration that the effect of the tariff on cotton fabrics, 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 269 

gave rise to numerous and extensive cotton factories, in 
our own country, affording a home market, a better market 
than could be obtained if we had no tariff and no cotton 
factories. The tariff and the factories combine and unite 
a variety of interests which reduce the price of cotton 
fabrics. The price of a yard of cotton fabrics, upon ab- 
stract considerations, is of but little importance to the 
manufacturers; he looks to the quantity he sells for his 
profits. Suppose the tariff acts were all repealed, as is ad- 
vocated by many of its opponents, and the government 
supported by direct taxaiion? The effect would be that 
the vast quantity of importations would deprive our man- 
ufacturers and mechanics of opportunities to sell articles 
and fabrics to the amount of one dollar, where they now 
sell to the amount of five ten or more; the consequence 
would be, that they would be forced to abandon their av- 
ocations, and we should be at the mercy of foreigners, hot > 
on account of low prices but from the quantity imported 
supplying the markets; and the prices would, after the de- 
struction of our factories and work- shops, be raised upon 
us. 

Now, if South Carolina should abandon the growing of 
cotton and cultivate sugar — ^or if it were a sugar growing 
state-the mechanical genius which brought into operation 
the cotton gin, would put in motion the rollers for grinding 
the sugar cane; they would not send the cane to Europe to 
be ground and manufactured, as they now do their raw cot- 
ton; and they, with a view of protection, would then require 
a high tariff upon imported sugar. The object of that state 
is exclusive protection. If they would add to the cotton 
gin the necessary machinery for manufacturing it into fab- 
rics, they would become advocates for the protective sys- 
tem. 

Looking at one side of the question, they consider that a 
high tariff protects the growers of sugar, and that, a low 
tariff protects the cultivator of cotton. The protective sys-. 



270 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

tern may not be as beneficial to the cultivator of cotton as 
to the grower of sugar; but that is debatable, and a decis- 
ion either way could not afford an argument against the 
policy of fostering home industry. It is not contended that 
a tariff could be so adjusted as to produce equal benefits 
and blessings throughout our country; but it is the duty of 
the government to give all the protection it can to all 
classes of society. The cultivation of cotton in the Indies 
and other southern countries is producing a change in the 
views of our politicians in the cotton growing states and 
may bring them to their senses. The soil of the cotton 
section of our country is represented, generally, to be a 
bed of sand, rendered productive by a decomposition of 
vegetable matter. It will then soon be exhausted by the 
successive crops of cotton and rendered unproductive, and 
can only be resuscitated either by the introduction of gra^s 
and raising of stock, or by abandoning it and suffering it 
to clothe and shade itself by producing forest trees, which 
would require as many years as had rolled avray in im- 
poverishing it by the cultivation of cotton. 

The proclamation of President Jackson, of December 
11, 1832, is firm, energetic and dignified in language, and 
is generally acknow^Iedged to be an able state paper. — 
The principles it advocates w^ere popular in the north; but 
generally repudiated in the south, and increased the in- 
flammatory proceedings in South Carolina. But the com- 
promise bill, so called, proposed by Mr. Clay, was ac- 
cepted, and the commotion in the political elements of 
the South subsided. In the opinion of the writer, the 
principles contained in the proclamation are sound. 

^'When gentlemen have succeded in their design of an 
immediate or gradual destruction of the American system, 
what is their substitute? Free trade! Free trade! The call 
for free trade is as unavailing as the cry of a spoiled child, 
in it nurse's arms, for (he moon or the stars that glitter in 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 271 

the firmament of heaven. It never has existed ; it never 
will exist. Trade implies, at least two parties. To be free 
it should be fair, equal and reciprocal. Bat if we throw 
our ports wide open to the admission of foreign produc- 
tions, free of all duty, what ports, of any foreign nation 
shall we find open to the free admission of our surplus 
produce? We may break down all barriers to free trade on 
our part, but the work will not be complete until foreign 
powers shall have removed theirs. There would be free- 
dom on one side, and restrictions, prohibitions, and exclu- 
sions on the other. The bolts, and the bars, and the 
chains of all other nations will remain undisturbed. It 
is indeed, possible that our industry and commerce would 
accommodate themselves to this unequal or unjust state 
of things, for such is the flexibiliiy of our nature that it 
bends itself to all circumstances. The wretched prisoner 
incarcerated in a jail, after a long time becomes reconciled 
to his solitude, and regularly notches down the passing 
days of his confinement. 

'•Gentlemen deceive themselves. It is not free trade that 
they are recommending \o our acceptance. It is, in effect, 
the British colonial system that we are invited to adopt; 
and, if their policy prevail, it will lead substantially, to 
the re-colonizaiion of these States, under the commercial 
dominion of Great Britain. And whom do we find some 
of the principal supporters, out of Congress of this foreign 
system? Mr. President, there are some foreigners who 
always remain exotics, and never become naturalized in 
our country; whilst, happily, there are many others who 
readily attach themselves to our principles and our insti- 
tutions. The honest, patient, and industrious German, 
readily unites with our people, establishes himself upon 
some of our fat land, fills his capacious barn, and enjoys, 
in tranquility, the abundant fruits which his diligence 
gathers around him, always ready to fly to the standard 
of his adopted country or to its laws, when called by the 



272 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

duties of patriotism. The gay, the versatile, the philosoph- 
ic Frenchman, accommodating himself cheerfully to all 
the vicissitudes of life, incorporates himself, without diffi- 
culty in our society. But of all foreigners, none amalga- 
mate themselves so quickly with our people as the natives 
of the Emerald Isle. In some of ihe visions which have 
passed through my immagination, I have supposed that 
Ireland was, originally, part and parcel of this country, 
and that, by some extraordinary convulsion of nature, it 
was torn from America, and, drifting across the ocean, 
w^as placed in the unfortunate vicinity of Great Britam. — * 
The same open-heartedness; the same generous hospitali- 
ty; ihe same careless and uncalculating indifference about 
human life, characterizes the inhabitants of both countries. 
Kentucky has sometimes been called the Ireland of Amer- 
ica. And I have no doubt that, if the current of emigration 
were reversed and set from America to the shores of Europe, 
instead of bearing from Europe 4-o America every American 
emigrant to Ireland, would there find, as every Irish emi- 
grant here finds, a heariy welcome and a happy home. 

''A Mr. Sarchet, makes no inconsiderable figure in 
the common attack upon our system. I do not know the' 
man, but I understand he is an unnaturalized emigrant 
from the Island of Guernsey, situated in the channel*which 
divides France and England. The principal business of 
the inhabitants, is ihat of driving a contraband trade with 
opposite shores; and Mr. Sarchet, educated in that school, 
is, I have been told chiefly engaged in employing his wiis 
to elude the operation of our revenue laws, by introducing 
articles at less rates of duty than they are justly chargea- 
ble with, which he effects by varying the denominations, 
or slighly changing thsir forms. This man, at a former 
session of the Senate, caused to be presented a memorial 
signed by some^ 150 pretended workers in iron. Of these 
a gentleman made a careful inquiry and examination, and 
ascertained that therQ w^ere only about ten of the denomi-' 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 273 



nation represented; the rest were tavern-keepers, porters, 
merchant's clerks, hackney coachmenj &c. I have the 
most respectable authority, in black and white for this 
statement." 

[Here General Hayne asked 'Who? and was he a man- 
ufacturer?''] Mr. Clay replied: ''Col. Murray, ofNew 
York; a gentleman of the highest standing for honor, pro- 
bity and veracity; he did notknow whether he was a man- 
ufacturer or not, but the gentleman might take him as 
one.* Whether Mr. Sarchet got up the late petition pre- 
sented to the Senate; from the journeymen tailors of Phil- 
adelphia, or not, I do not know. But I should not be 
surprised if it were a movement of his, and if we should 
find that he has cabbaged from other classes of society to 
swell out the number of signatures. 

"To the facts manufactured hy Mr. Sarchet, there was 
yet wanting one circumstance to recommend them to fa- 
vorable consideration, and that v/as authority of some 
high foreign name. There w^as no difficulty in obtaining 
one from a British repository. The honorable gentleman 
has cited a speech of my lord Goodrich, addressed to the 
British parliament in favor of the free trade and full of re- 
gret that old England could not possibly conform her prac- 
tice of vigorous restriction and exclusion to her liberal 
doctrine of unfettered commerce, so earnestly recom.mend- 
ed to foreign powers. "Sir," said Mr. C, "I know my 
ord Goodrich very well, although my acquaintance with 
lim was prior to his being summoned to the British house 
ofpeer^. We both signed the convention between the 
U. States and Great Britain in I8i5." ^ ^ * 
* If he were to live to the age of Methuselah, he 
could not make a speech of such ability and eloquence as 
that which the gentleman from S. Carolina recently deliv- 
ered to the Senate; and there would be more fitness in my 

*Mr. Clay, subsequently understood that Col. Murray was a mer- 
chant. 



274 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

lord Goodrich making quotations from the speech of the 
honorable gentleman, than his quoiing as authority, the 
theoretic doctrines of my lord Goodrich. We are too 
much in the habit of looking abroad not merely for manu- 
factured articles, but for the sanction of high names, to 
support favorite theories. * * 

I dislike the resort to authority, and especially ybm^Tz 
and interested authority, for the support of principles of 
public policy. I would greatly prefer to meet gentlemen 
upon the broad ground of iact, of experience, and of rea- 
son, but since they will appeal to British names and au- 
thority, I feel myself compelled to imitate their bad exam- 
ple. Allow me to quote from the speech of a member of 
the British parliament, bearing the same family name of 
my lord Goodrich, but whether or not a relation of his I do 
not know. The member alluded to was arguing against 
the violation of the treaty of Methuen — that treaty not less 
fatal to the interests of Portugal than would be the system 
of gentlemen to the best interests of America — and he 
went on to say : — 

" 'It was idle for us to endeavor to persuade othernations 
to join luith us in adopting the principles of what ivas 
called ^free trade J ^ Other nations knew as vjell as the 
noble lord opposite^ and those who acted with him^ what 
we meant by ^free trade''' was nothing more nor less than 
by the means of the great advantages we enjoyed^ to get a 
monopoly of all their markets for our manufactures^ and 
to prevent them^ one and all^from ever becoming manufac- 
tiiring nations. When the system of reciprocity and free 
trade had been proposed to a French ambassador, his re- 
mark was, that the plan was excellent in theory, but to 
make it fair in practice, it would be necessary to defer the 
attempt half a century, until France should be on the same 
footing with Great Britain, in marine, in manufactures, in 
capital, and the many other peculiar advantages which it 
now enjoyed. The policy that France acted on was that 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 275 

of 'encouraging it olvn native manufacturers, and it was a 
wise policy; because, if it were to freely admit our manu* 
factures, it would speedily be reduced to the rank of an 
ngricidtural nation^ and therefore a poor nation as all must 
be that depend exclusively upon agriculture. But since the . 
peace, France, Germany, America, and all other nations 
of the v/orld, had proceeded upon the principle of encour- 
aging and protecting native manufactures.' " 

''But I have said that the principle nominally called 
^'free trade," so earnestly and eloquently recommended to 
our adoption, is a mere revival of the British colonial sys- 
tem forced upon us by Great Britain during the existence 
of our colonial vassalage. The whole system i^ fully ex- 
plained and illustrated in a work published as far back as 
the year 1750, entitled the trade and navigation of Great 
Britain considered by Joshua Gee, with extracts from 
which I have been furnished by the diligent researches of 
a friend. It will be seen from these, that the South Car- 
olina policy now, is identical with the long cherished policy 
of Great Britain, which remains the same as it was w^hen 
the thirteen colonies were part of the British empire. In 
that work the author contends — 

' ''That manufactures, in the Am^erican colonies, should 
be discouraged or prohibited! 

' "Great Britain, with its dependencies is doubless as 
well able to subsist within itself as any nation in Europe; 
w^e have an enterprising people, fit for all the acts of peace 
and w^ar; we have provisions in abundance, and those of 
the best sort, and are able to raise sufficient for double the 
number of inhabitants; we have the very best materials for 
clothing, and want nothing either for use or even for lux- 
ury but what we have at home or might have from our col- 
onies. So that we might make such an intercourse of trade 
among ourselves, or between us and them, as would main- 
tain a vast navigation. But we ought always to keep a 
watcliful eye over our colonies^ to restrain them from, set^ 



276 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ting up any of the manufactures which are carried on in 
Britain^ and any such attempts should be crushed in the 
beginning; for ^ if they are suffered to grow up to maturi" 
ty, it will be difficult to suppress them,'^ " Pages, 177, '8 
and '9. 

No unprejdcliced man can read the foregoing without 
perceiving the policy of Great Britain towards the colo- 
nies, and which that haughty nation still attempts to en- 
force against this nation, is precisely the same, in effect, 
as is advocated by the opponents of protection. With- 
out questioning the motives of any man, the interests of 
Great Britain, and other manufacturing European coun- 
tries, are more successfully supported on the floor of Con- 
gress, by the opponents of American industry, than they 
possibly could be, if they were permitted to send an equal 
number of representatives to Congress. What would the 
American people say if Great Britain and other foreign 
nations were permitted to send representatives to Con-^ 
gress to teach us to support their interests and disregard 
our own? If free trade is so desirable, why does not G. 
Britain and other foreign nations, who recommended it to 
us, prove their sincerity by opening their ports to our sur- 
plus produce, free of duty. As well might it be expect- 
ed that infants could grow to maturity, without the aid of 
parents or nurses, as for the industry of our country to be 
justly rewarded without the protection from the arm of 
government. If a man from Virginia, or any other state, 
should bring into Mar) land, baskets, brooms, rakes, wood- 
en forks and other articles, of his own manufacture, and 
*'sell or offer to sell" without license, he would, on con- 
viction before a magistrate, have to pay a fine of not more 
than fifty; nor less than ten dollars with cost. This law, 
certainly, was not passed under the impression that our 
own basket-makers, broom-makers &c., could not afford 
to m^ke and sell them as cheap as the mechanics of Vir- 
ginia and other states; but because, our own basket-ma- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 277 

kers, broom -makers, &c., can supply us. Virginians and 
Pennsylvanians have paid fines for violating this law. — 
See laws of Md. for 1840 and '41, chap 154. Whilst 
the waiter was acting as a justice of the peace under Gov 
Grason, an officer of the law, broughi before him a Penn- 
sylvanian charged with havmg ''offered" to sell wood- 
forks, such as are used in handling hay and straw; but 
for want of evidence he was acquitted. On other occa- 
sions, and on proof he gave judgment against the offend- 
ers, and the fines were collected: and yet many are op- 
posed to protection against foreign competition. Mr. Gee 
further saith — 

''I should, therefore, think it worthy the care of the 
government to endeavor, by all possible means, to en- 
courage ihem in raising silk, hemp, flax, iron, (only pig 
to be hammered in England,) potash, &c., by giving them 
competent bounties in the beginning, and sending over 
judicious and ski ful persons, at the public charge, to as- 
sist and instruct them in the most proper methods of man- 
agement, w^hich in my apprehension, would lay a founda- 
tion for establishing the most profitable trade of any we 
have. And consirlering the commanding situation of our 
colonies along the sea-coast, the grea« convenience of nav- 
igable rivers in all of them, the cheapness of land, and 
the easiness of raising provisions, great numbers of peo- 
ple w^ould transport themselves thither to settle upon such 
improvements. Now, as people have been filled wnth 
fears that the colonies, if encouraged to raise rouo-h ma- 
terials, would set up for themselves, a little regulation 
would remove all those jealousies out of ihe way. They 
have never thrown or wove any silk, as yet, that we have 
heard of. Therefore, if a law was made to prohibit every 
throwster's mill, or doubling or horsling silk with any ma- 
chine, w^hatever, they would thus send it to us raw. And, 
as they will have the providing of rough materials to them- 
selves, so shall we have the manufacturing of them, If 



278 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

encouragement be given for raising hemp, flax, 8ic.y 
doubtless they will soon begin to manufacture, if not pre- 
vented. Therefore, to stop the progress of any such man- 
ufactures, it is proposed that no weaver that shall have 
liberiy to set up any looms without firsr registering at an 
office, kept for the purpose, and the name and place of 
abode of any journeyman that shal. w^ork with him. But 
if any particular inhabitant" (mark the w or as ^ particular 
inhabitant,) "shall be inclined to have any linen or wool- 
en made of their own spinning, they should not be abridg- 
ed of the same liberty that they now make use of, viz: to 
carry it to a weaver, (who shall be licensed by the gov- 
ernor) and have it wrought up for the use of the family^ 
but not to be sold to any person in a private manner, nor 
exposed to any market or fair, upon pain of forfeiture.'^ 
What think you of the foregoing, reader? Is it a bless- 
ing or a curse, to the great body of the people, that near- 
ly half of our members lo Congress are advocating a pol- 
icy which, if carried out, would have the effect desired by 
European governments, of "crushing" our manufactures^ 
increasing our agricultural productions and lowering the 
price? The crowned heads of Europe might well be proud 
of the advocates of their policy in the American Congress 
— paid by the American people and advocating a policy 
consistent with the interest of the manufactures of foreign 
countries. Suppose, for the sake of argumem, (which is 
positively denied,) that the protective system has an un- 
favorable bearing upon the cotton planters; ought all 
other interests be sacrificed, all manufactures beyond 
those produced by the cotton gin to be crushed^ It ought 
not to be satisfactory to the body of the people that those 
who oppose the protective system are influenced by cor- 
rect motives. As we cannot always know the motives of 
man, w^e should never impeach them unnecessarily. Ta- 
king, as granted, that all our representatives are govern- 
ed by correct motives, we shouldj without prejudice or re- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 279 

gard to party names, judge of their measures. It cannot 
be possible that the two great parties call into question 
the motives of each other. That there are illiberal indi- 
viduals in all political parties, will not be denied; but we 
are discussing measures, not impeaching or questioning 
motives. 

"And," says Mr. Gee, "inasmuch as they have been 
supplied v/ith all their manufactures from hence, except 
what are used in building ships and other country work, 
one-half of our exports being supposed to be in nails — a 
manufacture w^hich they allow has never hitherto been car- 
ried on among them — It is proposed they shall, ybr tune 
to come never erect the manufacture of any under the size 
of a tw^o shilling nail, horse nails excepted; that all slitting 
mills and engines, for drawing wire or weaving stockings 
be put down; and, that every smith, who keeps a common 
forge or shop, shall register his name and place of abode, 
and the name of every servant which he shall employ, 
which license shall be renew^ed once every year, and pay 
for the liberty of working at such trade. That all negroes 
shall be prohibited from weaving either linen or v>'ooilen, 
or spmning or combing of wool, or working at any manu- 
faciure of iron, further than making it into pig or bar iron. 
That they also, be prohibited from manufacturing hats, 
stockings, or leather of any kind. This limitation will 
not abrid2:e the planters of any privilege they now enjoy. 
On the contrary, it will turn their industry to promoting 
and raising: those rouo;h materials. 

"It is hoped that this method w^ould allay the heat that 
some people have shown for destroying the iron works on 
the plantations and pulling down all their forges — taking 
away, in a violent manner, their estates and properties — 
preventing the husbandmen from getting their plough- 
shares, carts, and other utensils mended; destroying the 
manufacture of ship building, by depriving them of the 
liberty of making bolts, spikes, and other things proper lor 



280 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

carrying on that work, by which article returns are made 
for purchasing our woollen manufaciures. Pages 87, 88, 
89. 

''If we examine into the circumstances of the inhabit- 
ants of our plantations and our own, it will appear that not 
one-fourth part of their product redounds to their own 
'profit: for, out of all that comes here, they only carry back 
clothing and other accommodations for their families; all 
of which is of the merchandise and manufacture of this 
kingdom. 

"All these advantages we receive from the plantations 
besides the mortgages on the planters' estates, and the 
high interests they pay us, which are very considerable; 
and therefore very good care should be taken, in regula- 
lating all affairs of the colonists, that the planters be not 
put under too many difficulties^ but encourged to go on 
cheerfully. 

''New England and the northern colonies have not com- 
modities and products enough to send in return for pur- 
chasing their necessary clothing but are under very great 
difficulties; and, therefore any ordinary sort sell wiih them. 
And when they have grown out oi fashion with us, they 
are new fashioned enough for them. 

From the foregoing we perceive that the British design- 
ed their old coats, shoes, and oiher worn and unfashiona- 
ble clothing for the Yankees^ w^iorn they considered too 
poor to buy new and fashionable clothing. What delib- 
erate, cold and heartless impudence! Who ever saw a 
Yankee clothed in rags, or too poor to purchase new, sub- 
stantial, and fashionable clothing? 

"Sir," said JMr. Clay, "I cannot go on w^ith this dis- 
gusting detail. Their refuse goods, their old shop keep- 
ers their cast off clothes, good enough for us! Was there 
ever a scheme more artfully devised by which the ener- 
gies and facilities of one people should be kept down and 
rendered subservient to the pride, and the pomp, and the 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRICJM. 28l 

power of another? The system, then proposed, differs on- 
ly from that which is now recommended, in one particu- 
lar; that was intended to be enibrced by power, this would 
not be less efFec^aally executed by the force of circun:istan- 
ces. A gentleman in Boston, [Mr. Lee,) the agent of the 
Free Trade Convendon from whose exhaustless mint there 
is a constant issue of reports, seems to envy the blessed 
Condition of dependent Canada, when compared to the op- 
pressed state of this Union: it is a fair inference from the 
view which he presents that he would have us hasten back 
to the golden days of that colonial bondage, which is so 
well depicted in the work from which I have been quoting, 
Mr. Lee exhibits two tabular statements, in one of which 
he presents the high duties which he represents to be paid 
in the ports of the United States, and, in the other, those 
which are paid m Canada, generally about iwo per cent. 
ad valorem. But did it not occur to him that the duties 
levied in Canada are laid chiefly upon British manufactures 
or on articles, passing from one part to another, of a com- 
mon empire? and to present a parallel case, in the Uni- 
ted States, he ought to have show^n that importations 
made into one state from another, which are now free, are 
subject to the same or higher duties than are paid in 
Canada." 

In the foregoing, the rational principle is laid down that 
it matters not as to the effect, whether a man is deprived 
of his money or goods, by the application of force, or 
whether he is cheated and sw^indled by moral means. Un- 
der the coionial government Britian held in reserve, force 
which was to be applied in the event of their civil policy 
failing. We are now an independent nation, and it will 
not do for Britain to use, or threaten force, and she resorts 
to moral means to keep us in just such a state of depend- 
ence as were the colonies. It is reason^ible to conclude 
that Britain has among us hired agents, who labor for 
their royal employers, in attempting to write down our 



282 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

mechanics and manufactured articles and clothe us with 
their fabrics — particularly such as are '^unfashionable." 

^'I will now, Mr. President," continued the Kentucky 
statesman, ^'proceed to a more particular consideration of 
the arguments urged against the protective system, and 
inquire into its practical operation, especially on the cot- 
ton growing country. And, as I wish to state and meet 
the argument fairly, I invite the correction of it, if neces- 
sary. It is alleged that the system operates prejudicially 
to the cotton planter, by diminishing the foreign demand 
for his staple; that we cannot sell to Great Britain, unless 
we buy from her; that the import duty is equiralent to an 
export duty, and falls upon the cotton grower; that South 
Carolina pays a disproportionate quota of the public rev- 
enue; that an abandonment of the protective policy would 
lead to an augmentation of our exports of an amount not 
less than one hundred and fifty millions of dollars; and, 
finally, that the south cannot partake of the advantages of 
manufacturing if ihere be any. Let us examine these va- 
rious propositions, in detail. First, that the foreign de- 
mand for cotton is diminished, and that we cannot sell to 
Great Britain unless we buy from her. The demand of 
both our great foreign customers is constantly and annu- 
ally increasing. It is time that the ratio of increase may 
not be equal to that of production; but this is owing to 
the fact that the power of producing the raw material is 
much greater, and is therefore constantly in advance of 
the power of consum.ption. A single fact will illustrate. 
The actual produce of laborers engaged in the cultivation 
of cotton may be estimated at five bales, or fifteen hundred 
pounds to the hand. Suppose the average*consumption 
of each individual w^ho uses cotton clothino: to be five 
pounds, one hand can produce enough of the raw mate- 
rial to clothe three hundred." 

It is obvious that so long as England or any other for- 
eign nation is dependent on us, in whole or in part, for 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 283 

raw cotton for their manufactories, that the demand will 
be increased in proportion to the quantity consumed by 
our own manufaciurers; hence, the grower has the advan- 
tage of a home and foreign market; the latter increased. 
The grower of grain and producer of other provisions is 
benefitted by a home market in proportion \o the number 
of persons engaged in, and supported by, manufactures.' 
The increased price of grain and other food is beneficial a- 
like to agriculturalists, mechanics and laborers; particular- 
ly to the two latter, who obtain employment and sale for 
their manufactured articles. If two merchants sell at the 
same profit, but one sells double the amount sold by the 
other, he makes double the money on the amount sold; 
and whilst the profits of one may not be equal to his ne- 
cessary expenditures, the other may be daily advancing 
in wealth and comfort. Apply this to the agriculturalists 
and mechanics. The mechanic and laborer cannot be ben- 
efitted by a low price of provisions whilst they are thrown 
out of employment. Farmers and all classes' view this 
subject upon the principle of inierest, patriotism and regard 
for your wives and children, without reference to party 
politics. 

We continue the quotation: 

''The argument (against protection) contains two errors; 
one of fact, the other of principle. It assumes that we do 
not in fact purchase of Great Britain. What is the true 
state of the case? There are certain, but very few articles 
w^hich it is thought sound policy requires that we should 
manufacture at home; and on these the tarifi' operates. — 
But with respect to all the rest, and much the larger num- 
ber of articles of taste, fashion, or utility, they are subject 
to no other than revenue duties and are freely intjoduced. 
I have before me from the Treasury a statement of our 
imports from England, Scotland and Ireland, including 
ten years preceding the last and three-quarters of the last 
year, from which it will appear that, although there are 



284 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

some fluctuations in the amount of the different years, the 
largest amount imported in any one year has been since 
the tariff of 1824, and that ihe last year's importation, 
when the returns of the fourth quarter shall be received, 
will probaDiy be ihe greatest in the whole term of eleven 
years." 

The foregoing paragraph ought to be committed to 
memory; at least the principles and facts which it contains, 
all of which should be impartially considered. A tariff to 
be protective, must be dis eliminating^ and applied to such 
articles exclusively as can with convenience, be produced 
or manufactured lo any required extent in our country, 
thereby producing a laudable competition among our own 
citizens insuring employment to the industrious and pro- 
moting the comfort, happiness and onward prosperity of all. 
It cannot be expected that the protective system can ex- 
tend equal benefits to all. Localities cannot be changed 
by legislation; we can reach certain degrees of latitude 
or longitude, but we cannot change them. But the tariff 
may be more or less protective to all; in its general bear- 
ing, without being unjust to any. Mr. Clay continues: 

"Now, if it be admitted that there is a less amount of 
the protected articles imported from Great Britain, she may 
be, and [)robably is, compensated for the deficiency, by the 
increased consumption in America of the articles of her 
industry not falling within the scope of ihe policy of our 
protection. 'J'he establishment of manufacures among us 
excites the creation of vv^ealth, and this gives nev; powers 
of consumpiion which are gratified by the purchase of for- 
eign objecis. A poor nation can never be a great consu- 
ming nation. Its poverty will limit its consumption to a 
bare subsistence. 

''The erroneous principles which the argument includes 
is, that it devolves on us the duty of taking care that Great 
Britain shall be enabled to purchase from us without ex- 
acting from Great Britain the corresponding duty. If it 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 285 

be true on one side, that nations are bound to shape their 
policy in reference to the ability of foreign powers, it must 
be true on both sides of the Atlantic. And this recipro- 
cal obligation ought to be emphatically regarded towards 
the nation supplying the raw material, by the manufactur- 
ing nations, because the industry of the latter gives four or 
five values to what has been produced by the industry of 
the former. 

''But, does Great Britain practice towards us upon the 
princijjles which we are now repuired to observe in regard 
to her? The exports to the United Kingdom, as appears 
from the same Treasury statement just advened to, during 
the eleven years, from 1821 to 1831, and exclusive of the 
fourth quarter of the last year, fall short of the amount of 
imports by upwards of forty-six millions of dollars, and the 
total amount, when (he returns of that quarter are received, 
will exceed fifty millions of dollars! It is surprising how 
we have been able to sustain, for so long a time, a trade so 
very unequal. We must have been absolutely ruined by it, 
if the unfavorable balance had not been neutralized by 
more profitable commerce with other pans of the world. 
Of all nations. Great Britain has the least to complain 
of the trade between the two countries. Our imports from 
that single power are nearly one-third of the entire amount 
of our importations from all foreign nations together. — 
Great Britain constantly acts on the maxim of buying only 
w^hat she wants and cannot produce, and selling to foreign 
nations to the utmost amount she can. In conformity 
with this maxim she excludes articles of prime necessity 
produced by us— equally if not njore necessary than any 
of her industry which we tax, although the admission of 
those anicles would increase our ability to purchase from 
her, according to the arguments of gentlemen." 

A family represents a nation in miniature; as much so 
as does a map represent upon a small scale the physical 
geography of a country. Now, if the expenditures of a 



286 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

family are greater than the income, it must be sinking in 
Aveahh and comfort. If the expenditures of a man are an- 
nually one hundred dollars more than his income, at the 
end of ten years he will find himself at least two thousand 
dollars in debt, and if he continues his course, at the end 
of twenty years he will be a bankrupt, unless he has a 
very large estate; because he could only support his cred- 
it by borrowing money; and he who borrows money on a 
sinking capital pays more than legal interest; and if he 
cannot pay one debt by contracting another on terms un- 
f[ivorable to himself, he must fall into the hands of the 
sheriff. 

*'If," sajd Mr. Clay, ^^ve purchase still less from G. 
Britain than we do, and our conditions wer^ reversed, so 
that the value of her imports from this country exceeded 
that of her exports to it, she would only then be compell- 
ed to do what we have so long done, and what South 
Carolina does in her trade with Kentucky — make up the 
unfavorable balance by trade with other places and coun- 
tries. How does she now dispose of one hundred and 
sixiy millions dollars' worth of cotton fabrics, w^hich she 
annually sells? Of that amount the United States do not 
purchase five per cent. What becomes of the other ninety- 
five per cent? Is it not sold to other powers, and would 
not their markets remain if ours were totally shut? Would 
she not continue, as she novv' finds it her interest, to pur- 
chase the raw material from us, to supply those markets? 
Would she be guilty of the folly of depriving: herself of 
markets to the amount of upwards of one hundred and 
fifty millions of dollars, because we refused her a market 
for some eight or ten millions? 

^'But if there were a diminution of the British demand 
for cotton equal to the loss of a market for the few British 
fabrics which are within the scope of our protective poli- 
cy, the question w^ould still remain, whether the cotton 
planter is not amply indemnified by the creation of addi- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 287 

lional demand elsewhere. With respect to the cotton 
grower, it is the totality of the demand, and not its distri- 
bution, which affects his interests. If any system of pol- 
icy will augment the aggregate of demand, that system is 
favorable to his interests, although its tendency may be to 
vary the theatre of the demand. It could not, for exam- 
ple, be injurious to him, if instead of G. Britain continu- 
ing to receive the entire quantity of cotton which she now 
does, tw^o or three hundred thousand bales of it were ta- 
ken to ihe other side of the channel and increased to the 
extent that the French demand. It would be better for 
him; because it is always better to have several markets 
than one. Now, if, instead of a transfer to the opposite 
side of the channel, those tw-o or three hundred thousand 
bales are transported to the northern states, can that be 
injurious to the cotton grower? Is it not better for him? 
Is it not better to have a market at home, unaffected by 
war or other foreign causes, for that amount of his sta- 
ple ?" 

''If the establishment of American manufactures, there- 
fore, had the sole effect of creating a new^, and an Amer- 
ican demand for cotton, exactly to the same extent in 
which it lessened the British demand, there w^ould be no 
just cause of complaint against the tariff. The gain in 
one place would precisely equal the loss in the other. — - 
But the true state of the case is much m.ore favorable to 
the cotton grower. It is calculated that the cotton manu- 
factories of the United States absorb at least tw^o hundred 
thousand bales of cotton annually. I believe it to be more. 
The two ports of Boston and Providence, alone, received 
during last year, near one hundred and ten thousand bales. 
The amount is annually increasing. The raw" material of 
that two hundred thousand bales is worth six millions of 
dollars, and there is an additional value conferred bj the 
manufacturer ot eighteen millions; it being generally cal- 
culated that, in such cotton fabrics as we are in the habit 



288 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

of making, the manufacturer constitutes three-fourths of 
the vahie of the article. If, therefore, these twenty-four 
millions of dollars worth of cotton fabrics were not !iiade 
in the United S ates, but were made in Great Britain, in 
order to attain them, w^e would have to add to the already 
enormous disproportion between the amount of our im- 
ports and exports, in the trade with Great Britain, the fur- 
ther sum of twenty-four millions, or, deducting the price 
of the raw material, eighteen millions. And will gentle- 
men tell me how it would be possible for this country to 
sustain such a ruinous trade. * * # :^ 

The cotton grower sells the raw material to the manufac- 
turer; he buys the iron, the bread, ihe meal, the coal and 
the countless number of objects of consumption, from his 
fellow-citizens, and they, in lurn, purchase his fabrics. 
* '^ ^ ^ The main argument of gentlemen is 
founded upon the idea of mutual ability resuUiiig from mu- 
tual exchanges. They w^ould furnish an ability by pur- 
chasing from them, and I, to our ow^n people, by exchan- 
ges at home." 

It has been asserted by some of the opponents of the 
protective system, that if a tariffduty cheapened the price 
of some articles of importation, from the very same prin- 
ciple, it would reduce the price of all imported articles, 
and, consequently, that a tariff might be put upon tea and 
coffee, so high as to reduce the price of the former to a 
fip, and the latter to one cent per pound, whilst the rev- 
enue would be increased in the same proportion to ihe de- 
crease in the prices of the articles. They then exulted in 
imaginary triumphs, and what they considered an unan- 
swerable arg'umenl'. Althouo^h men, whose minds are 
warped by prejudice or party, may not be entitled ot as 
much commiseration as those who are born blind, yet 
they ought to be treated with courtesy. Arguments and 
facts would not be more unavailing with a dead man than 
with a living man, so long as the latter unflinchingly re- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 289 

jected both — but where there is life there is hope. Ridi- 
cule, atfirmatives, and negatives do not always pass current 
for arguments, and w^ shall address ourselves to the sense, 
not to the prejudices of the reader. The advocates of 
protection never did assert that a high or a low tariff would 
create a competition among growers of those articles in 
the United States, and, thereby, increase the quantity and 
lower the price; because, those articles never have been 
cultivated within its limits, and, it is believed, that no 
portion of our soil and climate is genial to the growth of 
either. Consequently, the opponents of the protective 
system make themselves merry by charging their oppo- 
nents with sentiments which they do not entertain, never 
advanced, but repudiate. If a tariff is laid on tea and cof- 
fee, it is only justifiable as revenue, and not called for on 
the principle of protection. But the advocates of protec- 
tion do assert that the tendency of the system is to reduce 
the prices of cotton and woollen fabrics, boots, shoes, hats, 
iron and various other articles, and, at the same time in- 
crease the profits, and add to the solid comfort of laborers 
and manufacturers, by securing to them a market for their 
manufactured articles. And they not only offer arguments 
but facts, to support them. But the enemies of protec- 
tion when driven from one ground, assume another as 
untenable as the one which they abandoned — to wit : 
ihat if it lowers the price of articles protected, it lowers 
the wages of mechanic*^ and laboring men; and that too 
in the very face of the facts, that by giving our own me- 
chanics the advantage of the home market, they obtain 
steady employment and ready sale for their manufactured 
articles; and we repeat that it is not the profit a mechan- 
ic makes upon the sale of a sino:le article upon which he 
relies for a fortune, or even comfort, but on thequantiy he 
annually sells and constant employment. 

Neither the manufacturer, the mechanic, or the political 
advocates of the system ask any other protection than that, 



290 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 

which by decreasing the quantity of certain imported arti- 
cles secures to our mechanics a home market, and creates 
a wholesome competition* If such protection did not re- 
duce the price of articles^ no injustice could be done to 
any class; and^ if it cheapened, as we have and will fur- 
ther prove, the reduction flows from the industry of our 
own citizens in the abundant quantity furnished by ihem^ 
and adds to their comfort* To speak and to write ironi- 
cally, with the intention of being so understood, has been 
resorted to by some of the purest moral characters, and 
has sometimes proven to be the most powerful weapon in 
putting down error. Perhaps the best mode of polemical 
discussion with an uncompromising opponent of the pro- 
tective system, would be to unite with him in asserting 
that it is of no consequence to us whether our exports to 
foreign nations are admitted free, or pay a tariff equal to 
double their value— that the duty is paid by the consum- 
ers, and that president Jackson and other presidents were 
wrong in complaining of the "burthens" imposed upon 
our exports by foreign nations. And then, take the op- 
posite on this side of the ocean, and assert that our ports 
ought to be thrown open to all nadons and all importa- 
tions admitted free of duty, and government supported by 
a direct tax. The foregoing embodies, truly, the substance 
of the arguments of those who contend for what they call 
free trade, and boldly declare in favor of abolishing the 
tariff and resorting to a direct taxatioux Perhaps the best 
mode to refute their arguments would be to ironically, and 
in good temper, admit them. 

There are thousands of rational men who deny the ex- 
istence of air as a material substance, notwithstanding they 
frequently open their doors and windows in warm weath- 
er for its admission, and close them for its its exclusion 
in winter. They hear the wmd blow, and plainly see its 
effects on land and water, and yet deny the existence of 
air* Every one of those rational men could be satisfac\ori- 



POLITtdAL MQUILIBHIUM. 291 

}y convinced of his efrof;-^it could be a§ satisfactorily 
proven to him as is his own exisience^ by the use of prop- 
er apparatus^ that air is matter or substancej and that it 
can be weighed as can be a bale of cotton df a bag of cof- 
fee, or any thing else* How, then, does it happen that 
men can be made fully sensible of the existence of air, and 
of particles so minute as light, and yet that the most in- 
telligent men in the nation differ so widely as to the effect 
of a tariff? One class asserting that its effects on certain 
specified articles of importation might increase the price, 
and that a tariff should be digcriminating; whilst many 
others, equally intelligent and honest, contend that a tar* 
iff acts alike on all importations and increases the price to 
the consumer to the amount of the duty laid, to which 
the merchant, if it pass through his hands, adds a per cent* 
age* Is it not Wonderful that men of equal inteliigence up- 
on this subject should differ so widely as to the general 
principle involved? The difference between them is as 
great as that which exists between the negative and affir- 
mative; one party affirming and the other denying, and 
that on a subject of such importance that each charged the 
other whh advocating a policy which, if carried out, would 
produce wide-spread ruin and beggar the mass of the peo- 
ple* Surely we have arrived to a very important crisis if 
either policy is ruinous to us, Why do not our statesmen 
settle the question? The answer is easy, It involves a 
political party question. But the proposition relative to 
air and particles of light is settled by physical science, 
which cannot be made a political party question, and the 
Unfettered mind irresistibly and willingly grasps the truth. 
If the whigs and democrats charged each other with 
having destroyed the equilibrium which pervaded through- 
out the planetary system forty yeafg ago; with having de^ 
creased or increased the body of atmosphere u-hich sur- 
rounded the glebe, and with having thrown h out of it^ 
orbitj they Would throw aside Jefferson and Madigoni th^ 



292 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 

illustrious apostles of democracy, and cite Newton and 
Herschel to setile the question. If politicians would ex- 
amine political measures from the same principle that stu- 
dents labour to acquire astronomical science — to arrive at 
truth — the question, so far as the general principle is con- 
cerned, would soon be settled. It is proper to remark, 
that whilst one party, with a few individual exceptions, 
is united upon and m support of the protective system, 
the other party is considerably divided. The democracy 
of numbers is certainly favorable to protecting American 
industry; and judging from the intelligence of the people 
and the increasing discussions of the subject, the question 
will soon be settled as to the general principle. Time and 
circumstances will, doubtless, call for modifications to any 
tariff which could be framed; but the signs of the times 
indicate that the general principle will soon be adjusted. 
All human measures and institutions must be created and 
managed by human minds and hands, and cannot be more 
perfect than human minds can make them; time and cir- 
cumstances will require modifications, but the general prin- 
ciple of protection is founded upon reason and justice. 

Mr. Clay next proceeded to examine the second prop- 
osition: ''That the import duty is equivalent to the export 
duty, and falls on the producer of cotton.'^ 

[Here Gen. Hayne explained, and said that he never 
contended that an import duty w^as equivalent to an ex- 
port duty, under all circumstances; he had explained in 
his speech his ideas of the precise operation of the exist- 
ing system. Mr. Clay replied that he had seen the argu- 
ment so stated in some of the ingenious essays from the 
South Carolina press, and would therefore answer it.] 

"The framers of our Constitution, by granting to Con- 
gress the power to lay import, and prohibiting that of lay^ 
ing an export duty, manifested that they did not regard 
them as equivalent. Nor does the common sense of the 
people. An export duiy fastens itself upon, and incorp^- 



I 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 293 

rates itself With, the article on which it is laid. The arti- 
cle cannot escape from it — it pursues and follows it wher- 
ever it goes; and if, in the foreign market, the supply is 
Just equal or above the demand, the amount of the export 
duty will be a clear deduction to the exporter from the 
price of the article." **#*## 

The writer respectfully requests the reader to peruse the 
foregoing short paragraph a second time or oftener, if ne- 
cessary to understand the leading principle laid down in it 
and in reference to which all intelligent and unprejudiced 
men agree- -tha-c import and export duties are not equiv- 
alent. Gen. Hayne, in his voluntary explanation, yield- 
ed to the principle advocated by the friends of protection^ 
and refuted the principle assumed by himself. The atten- 
tion of the reader is particularly invited to 'he sentiments 
of intelligent men of both parties upon the subject, all 
of whom, without a single exception, agree that an im- 
port duty is not equivalent to an export duty. It certainly 
matters not as to the number of dollars necessary to sup- 
port the government, whether the revenue is raised by an 
import or export duty; the same number of dollars and 
cents would be required in either case; the same number 
of custom-houses and custom-house-officers would be re- 
quisite. Now let us put the question directly to the peo- 
ple. Shall a tariff be continued on importations and no 
duty on our exported article? or shall the system be wholly 
changed, and a duty laid on all our exports^ and all im- 
ported articles be admitted free of duty} iiU would go 
for a tariff on imports to the exclusion of a duty on our 
exported productions. Except those only who support for- 
eign interest and who are not American in principle or 
feeling, theje could be no other exceptions; democrats 
and whigs both would agree upon this question. In the 
language and meaning of Mr. Jefferson, in his first inau- 
gural address, ''we are alliepublicans; we are all federal- 
ists/' 



294 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

The writer will here relate an anecdote which he is as- 
sured occurred in a neighboring state. A farmer carried 
a basket of butter to market, sold it to a merchant, and re- 
ceived payment in coffee, which the merchant told him he 
could sell cheaper, but for the tariff. 'I thought,' said 
the farmer, 'that the producers and not the consumers of 
coffee paid the duty.' 'Not so,' said the merchant; 'the 
consumers pay the duty.' ^Do the consumers of all ar- 
ticles upon which a duty or tax is laid, ot any kind, direct 
or indirect always pay ii?' asked the farmer, anxiously, 
and with flashing eye. 'Invariably; without an exception,' 
said the merchant. 'Then/ said the farmer 'I have a small 
but just claim upon you. In coming to market, I paid a 
fip for crossing the bridge and must pay another on my re- 
turn, and yet I sold my butter no higher than those w^ho 
reached the market-place without crossing the river, and I 
demand of you tvvelve-and-a half cents or a pound of cof- 
fee.' The toll paid by the farmer for crossing the river 
was in effect, a tariff upon his butter, no part of which was 
paid by the merchant who was the purchaser and consu- 
mer. Just so with coffee and every other article which 
cross the ocean, and are subjected to toll, (tariff,) they are 
wholly paid by the pro(X\^ce/', if the toll is judiciously laid. 
But it might be so high as to amount to prohibition or to 
throw a part ot the toll upon the consum.er. In the latter 
case, by deducting from the tariff the portion paid by the 
producer, the profits of the merchant on coffee were not 
effected by his opinion that the farmer paid the tariff. — 
Merchants are as liable to commit errors in opinion as 
other men. They are, however a useful and necessary 
class of society; they purchase our surplus productions and 
pay for them in money or such articles as are required. — 
It would be inconvenient for the people of this section of 
country to go to South Carolina for their cotton and to 
Louisiana for their sugar, to which inconvenience they 
woMld be subjected if we had. no. mer^haats.. 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 



ms 



**But it is confidently argued,'' said Mr. Clay, ''that the 
import duty falls upon the pjrower of cotton; and the case 
has been put in debate, and again and again, in conversa- 
tion, of the South Carolina planter, who exports one hun- 
dred bales of cotton to Liverpool, exchanges them for 
one hundred bales of merchandize; and, when he brings 
them home, being compelled to leave, at the custom-house 
forty bales in the form of duties. The argument is found- 
ed on the assumption that a duty of forty per cent, 
amounts to a subtraction of forty from the one hundred 
bales of merchandize. The first objection to it, is, that 
it supposes a case of barter which never occurs. If it is, 
replied that it, nevertheless, occurs in the operations of 
commerce, the answ^er would be, that since the export of 
Carolina cotton is chiefly made by New York or foreign 
merchants, the loss staied, if it really existed, w^ould fall 
upon them and not upon the planter. But, to test the 
correctness of the hypothetical case, let us suppose that 
the duty, instead of forty percent., should be one hundred 
and fifty, which is asserted to be the duty in some cases; 
then the planter would not only lose the whole hundred 
bales of merchandize which he had received for his hun- 
dred bales of cotton, but he w^ould have to purchase with 
other means an additional fifty bales, in order to enable 
him to pay the duties accruing on the proceeds of cotton. 
Another answer is, that, if the p7'oducer of cotton in Amer- 
ica exchanging against English fabrics pays the duty, the 
producer of those fabrics pay it also, and thus it is twice 
paid. Such must be the consequence, unless the principle 
is true on one side of the Atlantic and false on the other. 
The true ansiver is, that the exporter of the article, if he 
invests its proceeds in a foreign market, takes care to make 
the investment in such merchandize as, when brought 
home he can sell with a fair profit. 

* * * "The next objection to the Amer- 
ican system is, that it subjects South Carolina to the pay- 



296 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ment of an undue proportion of the public revenue. * 
* * "* On this subject, I hold in rny hands a 
statement from a friend of mine, of great accuracy, and a 
member of the Senate. According to this statement, in 
a crop often thousand dollars, the expenses may fluctuate 
between two thousand eight hundred dollars and three 
thousand two hundred dollars. Of this sum, about one- 
fourth, from seven to eight hundred dollars may be laid 
out in articles paying the protective duties; the residue is 
disbursed for provisions, mules, horses, oxen, wages of 
overseer, &c. Estimating the exports of South Carolina 
at eight millions, one-third is two millions, six hundred 
and sixty-six thousand, six hundred and sixty-six dollars; 
of which one-fourth is six hundred and sixtv-six thousand, 
six hundred and sixty-six and two- third dollars. Now, 
supposing the protecting duty to be fifty per cent, and 
that it all enters into the price of the article, the amount 
paid by South Carolina would only be three hundred 
and thirty-three thousand, three hundred andthirty-three 
and one-third dollars. But the revenue of the United 
States may be stated at twenty- five millions; of which 
ihe portion of South Carolina, whatever standard, wheth- 
er of w^ealth or population, be adopted, would be about 
one million. Of course, on this view of the subject, she 
actually pays only one-third of her fair and legitimate 
share." 

The forecroinp: sbow\s how unfounded were and still are 
the complaints of South Carolina against the tariff. Those 
who complain most frequently have the least cause; but 
South Carolina had no cause whatever of complaint. 

''An abandonment of the American system, it is urged, 
would lead to an addition to our exports of one hundred 
and fify millions of dollars. The amount of one hundred 
and fifty millions of cotton in the raw state, would pro- 
duce tour hundred and fifty millions in the manufacturing 
states, supposing no greater value to be communicated, 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 297 

in the manufactured form, than that which our industry 
imparts. Now, sir, where would markets be found for 
this vast addition to the suppl} ? Not in the United States, 
certainly, nor in any other quarter of the globe; England 
having already every where pressed her cotton manufac- 
tures to the utmost point of repletion. We must look out 
for new worlds; seek for new and unknown races of mor- 
tals to consume this immense increase of cotton fabrics." 

[Gen. Hayne said that he did not mean that the increase 
of one hundred and fify millions to the amount of our ex- 
ports would be of cotton alone, but of other articles.] 

''What other articles? Agricultural produce, bread stuffs, 
beef, pork, &c.? Where shall we find markets for them? 
Whither shall we go? To what country, whose ports are 
not hermetically sealed against their admission? Break 
down the home market, and you are without resource. — 
Destroy all other interests in the country, for the imagina- 
ry purpose of advancing the cotton planting interest, and 
you inflict a positive injury, without the smallest practical 
benefit to the cotton planter. Could Charleston, or the 
whole Souih, w^hen all other markets are prostrated, or shut 
against the reception of the supplies of our farmers, re- 
ceive ihat surplus? Would they buy more than they might 
w^ant for their own consumption? Could they find mar- 
kets which other parts of the Union could not? 

"I regret, Mr. President, that one topic has, I think, 
unnecessarily been introduced in this debate. I allude to 
the charge brought against the manufacturing system, as 
favoring the growth of aristocracy. The joint stock com- 
panies of the North, as I understand them, are nothing 
more than associations, sometimes of hundreds, by w^hich 
the hard earnings of many are brought into a common 
stock, and the associates, obtaining corporate privileges, 
are enabled to prosecute, under one superintending head, 
their business to better advantage. Nothing can be more 
essentially democratic, or better devised to counterpoise 



298 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the influence of individual wealth. In Kentucky, almost 
every manufactory known to me is in the hands of enter- 
prising and self-made men, who have acquired whatever 
wealth they possess by patient and dilligent labor. Com- 
parisons are odious, and, but in defence, would not be 
made by me. But is there more tendency to aristocracy 
in a manufactory, supporting hundreds of freemen, or in 
a cotton plantation, with its not less numerous slaves, sus- 
taining, perhaps, onlv two white families — that of the mas- 
ter and the overseer?" 

There would be as much propriety in saying that two 
or three individuals, uniting their means and transacting 
business in partnership, constitute an aristocracy, as to say 
that a larger number, incorporated for the establishment of 
cotton, woollen, iron, or any other manufactories, consti- 
tutes an aristocracy. Corporations enable the poor to com- 
pete with the rich. Under aristocratic forms of govern- 
ment, there are comparatively few incorporated compan- 
ies, and they are generally so organized as to exclude men 
of small fortunes from having an interest in them. Hap- 
pily for us, the case is, yet, very different in the U. States. 
Men of small capital can, by uniting their means, estab- 
lish manufactories which one, two, or even half-a-dozen 
of them could not do, and bu' for which all i xtensive man- 
ufactories would be owned by a few wealthy individuals. 
Every regular form of government may be justly compar- 
ed to an incorporated company. It is, in fact, a nation- 
al corporation, and all within its bounds are stibordinates. 
Our government is incorporated upon democratic princi- 
ples, and has a president and board of directors. The 
corporation is intended to live forever; but the president 
and board of managers are elected at stated periods, with 
some exceptions, which are principally confined to the ju- 
dicial board of directors. 

^'I pass with pleasure," said Mr. Clay, "from this dis- 
agreeable topic, to two general proposition which cover 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 299 

the entire ground of debate. The first is that, under the 
operation of the American system, the objects which it 
protects and fosters are brought to the consumer at cheap- 
er prices than they commanded prior to its introduction 
or than they would command if it did not exist. If that 
be true, ought not the country to be contented and satis- 
fied w^ith the system, unless the second proposition, which 
I mean presently also to consider, is unfounded? And 
that is, that the tendency of the system is to sustain, and 
that it has upheld, the prices of all our agricultural and 
other produce, including cotton. 

''And is the fact not indisputable, that all essential ob- 
jects of jonsumption, aflfected by the tariff, are cheaper 
and better, since the act of 1824, than they were for sever- 
al years prior to that law? I appeal, for its truth, to com- 
mon observation and to all practical men. I appeal to ihe 
farmer of the country, whether he does not purchase, on 
better terms, his iron, salt, brown sugar, cotton goodsj 
and woollens, for his laboring people? And I ask the cot- 
ton planter if he has not been better and more cheaply 
supplied with his cotton bagging? 

* * * "I plant myself upon this FACT, of 
cheapness and superiority, as upon impregnable ground. 
Gentlemen may tax their ingenuity and produce a thou- 
sand speculative solutions of the fact, but the fact itself 
will remain undisturbed. Tiie total consumption of bar- 
iron in the U. States, is supposed to be about one hundred 
and forty-six thousand tons, of w^hich 112,666 are made 
in the country, and the residue imported. Tiie number 
of men engaged in the manufacture is estimated at 29,254 
and the total number subsisted by it, at one hundred and 
forty. six thousand, two hundred and seventy three. * 

* * The price of bar-iron in the northern ci- 
ties was in 1828, one hundred and five dollars per ton: in 
1829, one hundred dollars, in 1830, ninety dollars and in 
1831, from eighij-five to seventy-dve doUars---coastaatlj: 
4iaiinishin^.. 



300 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

• * * ^'The tailor will ask protection for 
himself, but wishes it denied to the grower of wool and 
the manufacturer of broad-cloth. The cotton planter en- 
joys protection for the raw material, but does not desire it 
to be extended to the cotton manufacturer. The ship- 
builder will ask protection for navigation, but does not 
want it extended to the essential articles which enter into 
the construction of his ship. Each, in his proper vocation 
solicits protection, bat w^ould have it denied to all other 
interests which are supposed to come into collision with 
his. Now, the duty of the statesman is to elevate him- 
self above these peity conflicts: calmly to survey all the va- 
rious interests, and deliberately to proportion the measure 
of protection to each according to its nature, and the gen- 
eral wants of society. # # ^ * # 

''The success of our manufacture of coarse cotton is 
generally admitted. It is demonstrated by the fact that 
they meet the cotton fabrics of other countries, in foreign 
markeis and maintain a successful competition with them. 
There has been a gradual increase of the export of this 
article, w^hich is sent lo Mexico and the South American 
republics, to the Mediterranean, and even to Asia. The 
remarkable fact was lately communicated to me, that the 
same individual vv^ho, twenty-five years ago, was engaged 
in the importation of cotton cloth from Asia, for American 
consumption, is now engag^ed in the exportation of coarse 
American cottons to Asia for Asiatic consumption! And 
my honorable friend from Massachusetts, now in my eye, 
(Mr. Silsbee,) informed me that on his departure from 
home, among the last orders which he g^ave, one was for 
the exportation of coarse cotton to Sumatria, in the vicini- 
ty of Cnlcutta. I hold in my hand a statement, derived 
from the most authentic source, showing that the identical 
description of cotton cloth, w^hich sold in 1817 atiwenty- 
nine cents a yard, was sold in 1819 at twenty-one cents. 
In 1821, at nineteen and a half cents, in 1823, at seven- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM, 301 

teen cents; m 1825, at fourteen and a half cents; in 1827, 
at thirteen cents; in 1829, at nine cents; in 1830, at nine 
and a half cents; and in 1831, at from ten and a half to 
eleven cents. Such is the wondertul effect of protection, 
competition, and improvement in skill, combined. The 
year 1829 was one of some embarrassment to this branch 
of industry, probably owing to the principle of competi- 
tion being pushed too far; hence we discover a small rise 
in the article the next two years. The introduction of 
calico printing into the United States continues an impor- 
tant era in our manufacturing industry. It commenced 
about the year 1825, and has since made such astonish- 
ing advances, that the whole quantity now annually prin- 
ted is but little short of forty millions of yards — about two- 
thirds of our whole consumption. It is a be-utiful man- 
ufacture, combining great mechanical skill with scientific 
discoveries in chemistry. » * * j^^^ ^^^q fJne 

graceful forms of our fair country w^omen less lovely when 
enveloped in ihe chintses and calicoes produced by native 
industry, than when clothed in the tinsel of foreign dra- 
pery?" 

It has been frequently asserted by the opponents of pro- 
tection that, if our manufactured fabrics can compete in 
foreign markets with foreign fabrics, and i( our manufac- 
turers can afford to export their articles to foreign climes, 
they do not require or deserve protection; and that the 
system ought to be abolished. With just as much or as 
little reason it might be said that as cultivation has ren- 
dered the earth productive, further cultivation is unneces- 
sary and ought to be abolished. Protection afforded to 
our manufacturers, by creating competiiion and inviting 
and encouraging industry, will render them productive, ex- 
actly as cultivating the soil renders it fruitful. Abandon 
both, and our manufactories will dwindle and our land 
€ease to be prolific — the price of manufactured articles 
would rise, and hunger and famine spread throughout our 



302 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* 

land. The use of means are not more essential to rendef 
the earth productive^ than the use of means are to render 
our manufactories beneficial, by furnishing employment to 
thousands of men, women and children, and thereby pro- 
ducing necessary articles, which we would otherwise have 
to purchase from foreign nations. 

* * ''Brown sugar, from 1792 to 1802, with a 
duty of one and a half cents per pound, sold at fourteen* 
The same article, during ten years, from 1820 to i830, 
with a duty of three cents has averaged only eight cents 
per pound; nails, with a duty of five cents per pound, are 
selling at six cents: window glass, eight by ten, prior to 
the tariff of 1824, sold at twelve or thirteen dollars per 
hundred feet; it now sells for ihree dollars and seventy^five 

cents. 

******* 

''This brings me to consider, what I apprehended to 
have been, the most efficient of all the causes in the reduc* 
tionofthe prices of manufactured articies---and ihat is 
COMPETITION. By comperition, the total amount of the 
supply is increased, and by increasing the supply, a com- 
petition in the sale ensues, and this enables the consumer 
to buy at lower rates. Of all human powers operating on 
the affairs of mankind, none is greater than that of com^ 
petition. It is action and re-action. It operates between 
individuals in the same nation, and between different na* 
tions. It resembles the meeting of ihe mountain torrent^ 
grooving, by its precipitous motion, its own channel, and 
ocean's tide. Unopposed it sweeps every thing before it4 
but, counterpoised, the waters become calm, safe and reg- 
ular. It is like the segments of a circle or an arch, taken 
separately, each is nothing; but, in their combination, they 
produce efficiency, symmetry and perfection.'' * * 

The beauty in the foregoing, is almost lost Sight of in 
the force of the argument. Mr. Clay, after stating the 
effect the tariff had in reducing the price of other protect^ 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 303 

ed articles, states the duties imposed upon some of our 
exports by Great Britain. 

"The duties," said Mr. Clay, ''in the ports of the Uni- 
ted Kingdom, of bread-stuffs, are prohibitory, except in 
times of dearth. On rice the duty is fifteen shillings ster- 
ling per hundred weight, being more ihan one hundred 
per cent, on manufactured tobacco, it is nine shillings 
sterling per pound, about two thousand per cent.; on leaf 
tobacco, three shillings per pound, or one thousand two 
hundred per cent.; on lumber and some other articles, 
they are from four hnndred to fifteen hundred per cent., 
more than on similar articles imported from British colo- 
nies; on beef, pork, hams and bacon, the duty is twelve 
shillin2:s sterling per hundred pounds, more than one hun 
dred per cent." 

Mr. Clay gives an account of the bread-stuffs and oth- 
er provisions furnished the eastern manufacturers from the 
agricultural states in 1831: 

"The quantity of flour imported into Boston, was two 
hundred and eighty-four thousand, five hundred and four 
barrels, and three thousand, nine hundred and ninety-five 
half-barrels; of Indian corn, six hundred and eighty-one 
thousand, one hundred and thirty-one bushels; of oats, 
two hundred and thirty-nine thousand, eight hundred and 
nine bushels; of shorts, thirty-three thousand, four hundred 
and eighty bushels; and of rye, about fifty thousand bush- 
els. Into the port of Providence, seventy-one thousand, 
three hundred and sixty-nine barrels of flour; two hundred 
and sixteen thousand, two hundred and sixty-tw^i bushels 
of Indian corn, and seven thousand, seven hundred and 
seventy-two bushels of rye. And there were discharged 
at the ports of Philadelphia, four hundred and twenty thou- 
sand, three hundred and fifty-three bushels of Indian corn; 
two hundred and one thousand, eight hundred and seventy- 
eight bushels of wheat; and one hundred and ten thousand, 
five hundred and fifty bushels of rye and barley. There 



304 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

were slaughtered in Boston the same year, 1831, (the only 
northern city fro:;n which I have received returns) thirty- 
three thousand, nine hundred and twenty-two beef cattle; 
fifteen thousand, four hundred store cattle; eighty-four 
thousand, four hundred sheep; twenty-six thousand, eight 
hundred and seventy-one swine. It is confidently believ- 
ed that there is not a less quantity of southern Hour con- 
sumed at the north than eight hundred thousand barrels — 
a grea'er amount, probably, than is shipped to all ihe world 
logeiher." 

In ihis chapter the writer has acted more 'he part of a 
compiler, than an author. He cannot be jusily charged of 
withholding the arguments of the opponents of a protec- 
tive tariff, having quoted all the strongest arguments against 
it within his reach, and only one au hor in i;s support on 
ihe x^merican side. Suppose a du'y of ihree cents laid 
upon a pound of coffee and a proportionate du y upon a 
pound of lea: would there not be as much or as little sense 
in saying, that the producers of both articles could make 
us, ihe consumers, pay a dollar a pound for coffee and five 
dollars for tea, as to make us pay the duty? The question 
is now put to the sense and honest, unbiassed judgment 
of the reader: why do not the producers of those articles 
make us, the consumers, pay one dollar a pound for coffee 
and five or ten dollars apound for tea? The answer, which 
is important in the investigation of the principle involved, 
is easily given to the satisfaction of every man whose mind 
is unfettered by party, and who wishes to understand princi- 
ples as they really exist. The correct answer is this: — the 
price of every article is governed by supply, demand and 
the ability to pay for it. We might readily suppose that 
by a general failure for sucessive years of the crops of 
coffee, or from our beingmvolved in aprotracsed maritime 
war with a powerful nation, that the supply might fall so 
far below ihe demand as to raise them to the prices sup- 
posed. During the late war, coffee retailed in Hagerstown 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 305 

at ihtrty-seven and a half cen^s, and tea at two dollars 
and fifty cents per pound; and if the war had continued 
two years longer, the price would have, probably, been 
doubled. 

It has been frequently asserted that the factories of Eng- 
land are the cause of the low wages and distress of the 
laboring class. The truth or fallacy of the declaration can 
be established beyond question or doubt. The popula- 
tion of Gre^t Britain, ^t the last enumeration, was two 
hundred and sixty to the sq.iare mile. Taking into con- 
sideration the quantity of sterile and uncultivated land, 
the population to each square mile of arable land must ex- 
ceed three hundred. If, then, the factories and work- shops 
were closed, thousands, yea, millions, (including children,) 
could not obtain labor even if they w^ould work for noth- 
ing; and government would have to adopt immediate 
means for their subsistence until they could be transport- 
ed to foreign shores where they could obtain labor, or they 
would perish from famine or fall by the sword in attempt- 
ing to obtain subsistence by force, w^hich they could not 
obtain by labor. 

Never, it is believed, since the foundation of our gov- 
ernment was there a greater redundance of grain^ meat 
and all vegetable productions throughout our wide-spread 
country than at the present period; provisions of all kinds 
are comparatively low and prices are declining; and yet 
thousands of mechanics and laboring men cannot obtain 
employment, and consequently cannot supply themselves 
with provisions sufficient for their comfortable support. If 
our factories were properly protected, all classes of our 
citizens could obtain employment, and the probability is 
that flour would range from five to six dollars per barrel, 
all other articles of provisions in the same proportion, and 
mechanics would receive fair prices and have a ready sale 
for their manufactured articles. At present, provisions, 
are low, but hard to command by the mechanics and la- 
u 



306 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

boring men, because of the want of employment. The 
question is put to the unbiased understanding of the whole 
people, whether a protecting tariff would not promote the 
general good of all. 

The writer believes that he would be as little affected in 
a pecuniary point of view by the measures of government 
or the triumph of one party and the downfall of another, 
as any man in the nation. He has but a short time to live 
and few days to provide for; he has ceased to be ambitious 
beyond what is necessary for the comfortable support of 
himself and family, and to possess and deserve the confi- 
dence of those with whom he is acquainted; but he feels 
deeply interested for the general good and public welfare 
and for the happiness and prosperity of the whole people. 
He contends for such measures and principles only, as 
will produce the greatest amount of happiness and prosper- 
ity, without regard to party. 

It has been asked, why are not house-carpenters pro- 
tected by a tariff? As yet dwellings, mills, barns, &c., 
built in Europe, have not been shipped to the United 
States, and it has been thought not necessary to lay a tar- 
iff upon imported houses; but, by a discriminating tariff, 
the house-carpenter is benefitted, being a recipient of the 
benefiis arising from the general prosperity of the country. 
It has been said that the number of journeymen and ap- 
prentices employed in cotton and wollen factories consti- 
tutes an aristocracy. If the assertion is true, it is also true 
that an equal number of journeymen employed in cord- 
wainers' shops, cabinet-makers' shops, ship-yards, tanne- 
ries, &c., also makes an aristocracy. It is more aristo- 
cratic to take wool in the fleece, and cotton in the bale, 
and manufacture them into clothing, than it is to dig ore 
out of the mine and pass it on until, in bar-iron, it leaves 
the forge hammer? 

If the mind can be relieved from bias and party fetters, 
and the protective system examined from the same motives 



POf-ITICAL E-Q^ILIBflWM, 307 

ik^t a man would figure out an arithmetical question, there 
^could be but one opinion as to the general principle and 
-effect of the protective system. An honest difference in 
•opinion would frequently arise as to the amount of duty 
which could belaid without putting any part of it on the 
^consumer; also, as to what articles ought to be protected; 
and circumstances would, or might create defects which 
the statesman, as a duty, should correct, without abandon- 
ing the principle. 

A horse can carry a boy and three bushels of corn to the 
mill, and when the corn is ground, he can carry back the 
boy and meal without inconvenience: but the horse could 
not carry fifty bushels, because the weight is too great for 
his strength, and he would sink under it. What has the 
figure to do with protective duties? We answer, that up- 
on the same principle that a horse can carry three bushels 
of corn without inconvenience, but would be crushed by fif- 
ty bushels, a pound of coffee would bear a duty of one or 
two cents, without throwing the duty on the consumer; but 
if a tariff of fifty cts. w^as laid on a pound of coffee, it would 
be more than itcould bear. Do not the statesman farmer and 
mechanic see the application of the figure. Does not every 
man, whose mind is unfettered, see the propriety, the sense 
and justice of being governed by the principle of propor- 
tion to produce an equilibrium and promote the general 
good? The statesman who would assert that if a pound of 
coffee could pay a duty of one or two cents per pound with- 
out throwing it upon the consumer, it would, upon the 
same principle, pay a duty of fifty cents without throwing 
it upon the consumer, would not commit a greater absur- 
dity by saying that if a horse could carry three bushels of 
corn, he could, upon the same principle, carry fifty bush- 
els. The weight of three bushels of corn would be felt by 
the horse, and the weight of one or two cents upon a 
pound of coffee would be felt by the producer, who having 
a surplus, would find it more to his interest to pay thedu- 



308 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ty than not to sell it; but if a duty of fifty cents were laid 
upon it, he could not afford to pay it and sell at the pres- 
ent prices. The consequence would be that the tariff would 
amount to a prohibition; or most, though not all of the du- 
ty would be paid by the consumers; because the article 
cannot be raised in this country. A duiy of fifty cents up- 
on a pound of coffee would throw from forty-eight to for- 
ty-nine cens upon'lhe consumer, and from two to five cents 
upon the producer, which is as much as the article will 
bear without imposing part of the duty on the consumer. 
But if coffee was raised in the United States as abundant- 
ly as corn, a duty ot fifty cents upon the imported article 
could never affect the price of it in this country. 

The wTiter will, for the sake of argument, concede that 
a protective tariff laid in the most skilful and judicious 
manner, would be paid, '\n part^ by ihe consumers. He 
will not admit, even for argument's sake, that all would 
fall on the consumers-that would be an absurdity too great 
to be entertained by any unprejudiced man. He then 
asks whether a system which w^ould afford employment 
and fair w^ages to thousands of men, women and children 
who are now idle, because ^*no man has hired" them, 
would not produce benefits and blessings to all classes of 
people? Can any philanthropist or man of observation be- 
hold the number of men, women and children, in cities, 
towns and neighborhoods, who are idle from necessity, 
not choice, without being impressed by painful sensations. 
Behold the temptations to which they are exposed. The 
human family are not as depraved by nature as they are 
frequently represented to be — o^ime and misery generally 
fiomfrom the imperfections in the form or measures of 
government — the morals of the body of the people will be 
in accordance with the form or measures of government — 
history and observation prove the truth of the sentiments. 
{j#=*Causes produce effects. c^ Is it not the duty of 
government to pursue a policy which would enable them 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 309 

to obtain labor, and stimulate thera to industry, ensure to 
them all the necessaries and comforts of lite, without de- 
partino; from sound morals and correct habits? 

When we contemplate the vast extent of our country, 
the fertility of soil, rich and abundant agricultural produc- 
tions, inexhaustible mineral resources and sfreat water pow- 
er, it is absolutely certain, that if the general government 
pursued a just policy, the laboring man and industrious 
woman would be sought for; the loafer w^ould become 
ashamed of idleness, and our whole population might be 
compared to a swarm of bees industriously laying up rich 
stores — vice would diminish in proportion as a constant 
demand for labor and a just compensation to the laborer 
would lessen the motives in which vice is founded. 

The writer i« opposed to prohibitory duties as illiberal 
towards foreign nations. But he does say that it w^ould 
be better to prohibit all foreign articles, without an excep- 
tion, than to adtnii foreign importations free of duty. Pro- 
hibition would deprive us of some articles, most of which 
are luxurious; but it would be productive of substantial 
benefits and blessings, compared with the admissions of 
foreij^n articles free of duty. If it be asked how a reve 
nue would be raised to support the government, and whe- 
ther foreign n itions would purchase our surplus, if we pro- 
hibited thera, w^e answer: if it be true that the consumers 
pay the duty, as is asserted by the opposers of protection, 
then the consumers would be benefitted by prohibition; 
because they would only have to pay an equivalent for the 
duty they now pay, and would be relieved from paying 
for the article which was prohibited. Take a case: a man 
purchases various foreign articles to the amount of forty 
dollars, which paid a duty often dollars; prohibit all im- 
portations, and he would only have ten dollars to pay to 
the government and have thirty left to supply himself with 
domestic articles; consequently he could not lose or gain, 
admitting the theory of the consumers paying all the duty. 



3^10 POLITICAL EQUPLIBRIUM. 

wh'ielr is, however, an absurdity of the highest order. W 
all importations were prohibited, a portion of our popula- 
tion would necessarily be drawn off from agriculture, suf- 
ficient so to supply all the manufactured articles; and a 
home demand and market would be created which would 
leave comparitively a small q^iantity for exportation; and 
as foreign nations purchase nothing from us which they can 
produce themselves, it is more than probable that we would 
obtain a higher price for our surplus productions than we 
now receive, and that the whole country would be substan- 
tially benefitted,. The writer is in fa\or of disciiminating 
and protective duties, and not of duties on tea, coffee and 
other necessary articles, which are not of the growth, pro- 
duce and manulacture of our country. He distinctly says 
that the government ought to give as decided preference 
to the whole people of the United States over the people 
of every other nation as parents give to their own children 
over the children of their neighbors. The writer pronoun- 
ces this the true policy. He will close this chapter by 
quoting from the I'ast annual communication of the illus- 
trious Jefferson to Congress. A protective tariff was one 
of his favorite and leading measures, and was denounced 
by its opponents as the ''terrapin policy:" 

''The probable accumulation of the surplusses of reve- 
nue beyond what can be applied to the payment of the 
public debt, whenever the freedom and safety of our com- 
merce shall be restored, merits the consideration of Con- 
gress. Shall it lie in the public vaults? Shall the reve- 
nue be reduced? Or, shall it not rather be appropriated 
to the improvements of roads, canals, rivers, education^, 
and other great foundations of prosperity and union, un- 
der the powers which Congress may already possess, or 
such amendment of the Constitution as may be approved 
by the state? While uncertain of the- course of things, the 
time maybe advantageously employed in obtaining the' 
powers necessary for a; system of improvement, should thai 
be thought best.^' 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 311 

CHAPTER XIL 

On Innate Ideas, and the difference between Believing- and Knowing. 

An idea is an intellectual visiter, but like the soul is in- 
visible. All rational men concede the existence of mind 
and the association of ideas as self-evident, and yet 
some deny, or call into question the existence of an intel- 
lectual and immortal soul. The argument of sceptics a- 
gainst the existence of an immortal spirit are in substance 
as follows. — That nothing visible or invisible can possibly 
exist ^vithout a material body, form, extent, and substance 
— that something cannot be nothing, and nothing cannot 
be something — that all matter is governed by unalterable 
laws and principles which render matter mutable— that it 
is constantly decomposing, and recomposing, producing 
and reproducing; constantly in motion without a moment's 
repose. That if the soul is a material, it must constitute a 
part of the corporeal body, and be subject to the laws which 
governs matter; produce grass by one mutation and an ani- 
mal or insect of some kind by another — that if it is immate- 
rial, it is nothing, and that nothing cannot possibly be some- 
thing; and thus make themselves merry by arguments 
they consider unanswerable. Whatever force there may 
be in the foregoing arguments they apply with equal, or if 
possible, w^ith greater force against the existence of mind 
which is intellectual and not subject to the laws which 
govern matter. All acknowledge the existence of mind 
and may not life, the living principle^ which is immaterial 
be immortal^ 

If the writer could reject Revelation, in whole or in 
part, it seems to him that he would believe the soul, or, 
mind to be immortal. It matters not what distinctive name 
we give to that which we believe to be immortal. All ac- 
knowledge the existence of mmd; but no one will say that 
it is matter, as the hand or the pen with which one writes. 



312 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Yet we speak of it comparatively as a corporeal, a weak, 
strong or giant mind, or, a mind below or abo\e medioc- 
rity; it is, moreover, sensative, subject to pleasure and 
pain. Notwithstanding matter is mutable, not a particle 
can be annihilated in science or in fact, we can and often 
do destroy matter, so far as to remler it invisible; but we 
cannot exclude it from an existence in science. The exist- 
ence of mind, is self-evident to every intelligent man, 
though always invisible. As we concede that mind is not 
matter, we must fdmit that it is not subject to the law of mu- 
tation or the science of chemistry, and having a posiiive ex- 
istence, independent of scientific principles; is it r»ol certain 
that it will exist forever? Anything which can exist an hour 
wi'houta material bodv or form, m tst exist eternally; be- 
cause the laws which govern the materi /I systeu) cannot 
reach it, nor any branch of science analyze it. The import- 
ant question presents itself. Is mind immortal? If yea, it 
must be transferrable, and the writer treats mind and soul as 
synonymous for convenience, without asserting that they 
are so. Independent of Revelation and a desire on the part 
of all intelligent men to live forever, it appears to the wri- 
ter that more plausible arguments can he advanced in sup- 
port of immortality than against it; indeed, the negative 
will scarcely admit of argument. Having; glanced a im- 
mortality with reverential awe, ideas will now be consid- 
ered 

Ideas are induced by surrounding objects, transactions 
and the intelligence, verbal, ororai, which is romnmnica- 
ted to one or more of the senses; and what is cotnmuni- 
cated to us cannot be innate. We might as well assert 
that elementary light is innate, and that we perceive ob- 
jects by rays of light emited from the brain or eyes, and 
not from the sun, as to say that ideas are innate — they 
are communicated, as certainly so, as the ravs of light 
which pass through our window^s. It is impossible to ex- 
press any idea which we entertain upon any subject, with- 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 313 

out using language which plainly implies that it was com- 
municated and received, consequently it was not innate. 
We frequently, and correctly, speak of a new idea; con- 
sequently it was not innate. We must receive and pos- 
sess ideas before we can impart them. If they were in- 
nate, the stock or number would be daily diminishing and 
if exhausted we would thereafter be without them — there 
would be many empty craniums; but they are not innate, 
and if a rapid declaimer should throw out all that his head 
contained, the vacum would soon be supplied with a 
new set. 

The belief that we possess innate ideas, probably, ori- 
ginated from a figurative mode of speaking — the blood 
royal, a child born with a silver spoon in its mouth, boot- 
ed and spured, with a whip in his hand, or the handle of 
a plough, or some implement of agriculture or mechanism; 
and such a style of expression is allowable, but weshould 
be careful to discrimmie between the figurae and the 
fact. If it should be said that a child was born a Jew or 
Christian, the speaker would be understood to mean that 
its parents were Jews or Christians, and instructed their 
offspring in their religion; b U not to say that the infant 
was born with innate Jewish or Christian faith, rehears- 
ing ihe Ten Commandments, or chanting a Christian Ho- 
mily. All religious faith is attributable to parental ed- 
ucation, or, to such other teaching, physical and moral, 
as is sufficient to produce belief and exclude disbelief: 
with moral evidence, the w-riter includes Revelation. But 
the reader should bear in mind that neither believing or 
disbelieving can be the cause of any thing being true or 
false; and that opinions, i. e. beliefs, upon important sub- 
jects, are various, and consequently many must be in er- 
ror upon subjects resting upon belief; and, moreover, that 
many conflicting opinions and dogmas cannot be proven 
true or false upon arithmetical principles, or by human 
testimony. Revelation must be referred to when reason 



314 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

and arithmetic fail; and here again, we may fall into er- 
ror by believing that something was revealed in a dream, 
or when awake, when in fact it may have been imma- 
gianary. 

We should investigate all subjects founded on belief 
with great care. Truth should be the only object searched 
for, and we should bear in mind that no question, princi- 
ple or dogma upon any subject which we can conceive, 
is too sacred for investigation, or too pure and holy to be 
understood, and that man cannot be injured by arri- 
ving at truth — that he has as clear a right to investigate 
as he has to breathe — that as truth is the only foundation 
upon which he can rely for correct morals and actions, it is 
his duty to try, or test, every important theory by his 
senses, and if its truth, cannot be established by one or 
more of these witnesses, it is his duty, as a rational man 
to examine with calm attention, firmness, and indepen- 
dence all other evidence wiihin his reach pro and con — 
that he is not morally bound to believe any dogma to be 
true without satisfactory evidence — that there is nothing 
impious connected w^ith sober enquiry in pursuit of knowl- 
edge, and that no moral evil can result from advancing 
in wisdom. 

BELrEF, metaphysically, implies doubt or uncertainty, 
and is never voluntary; but is produced by such evidence, 
true or false, as renders disbelief impossible; for no man 
can believe wdiat he disbelieves, or disbelie e what he be- 
lieves. If belief was voluntary, the writer could believe 
that he is seated and writing at a table in Boston, or, on 
board a steam boat on the Mississippi, or that he is very 
rich, or, he could believe that he is in possession of every 
thing desirable. If a witness in court testified that he had 
long been a near neighbor to the defendant, and knew 
him to be a very industrious man and believed him to be 
strictly honest, he woidd be understood as speaking pos* 
itively of his industry ; but not so of his honesty, of 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 315 

which he only expressed an opinion, or belief. But sup- 
pose the witness testified that he knew the defendant to 
be strictly honest, and believed him to be industrious; a 
man of the most ordinary capacity Avould observe the ab- 
surdity of the testimony, and the witness w^ould, probably 
be called upon to correct hi^ statement. So great is the differ- 
ence between believing anH knowing, in many important 
cases, that it is not probable that any man of well regulated 
mind would testify that he knew his neighbor to be honest; 
though he might safely testify that he verily believed him 
to be so; his belief might be well or ill founded. The un- 
necessary and uncalled for importance which has been 
attached to matters of belief, in by-gone days, checked 
investigation, brutalized the mmd and under the cloak of 
religion led to vindictive immolations and cruelties^ 
at the contemplation of which the benevolent mind sick- 
ens. 

As belief is an involuntary act of the mind, produced 
by such real or supposed evidence as rejects and renders 
disbelief impossible, it cannot be a merit to believe any- 
thing. And as no man can possibly desire to be in error or 
deceived upon any subject whatever, it is his duty to in- 
vestigate. If men would calmU canvass their conflicting 
opinions upon all subjects and matters of belief, with ihe 
single object of arriving at truth, it would be productive o-f 
forbearance and good will, and would increase social in- 
tercourse and reciprocal benefits an«l blessings. But a dif- 
ference in matters of belief upon political or religious sub- 
jects, frequently array neighbors m bitter hostility to each 
other; each denouncing the other a tory or an infidel, and 
doubtless, m most of such cases, each party is more or 
less wrong, and in many instances both wholly in error. 
Belief, abstractedly, may be coujpared to a consonant 
which cannot be perfectly sounded without the aid of a 
vowel, and sincerity in belief and faith is not evidence of 
being right; one may be as sincere in error as in truth* 



316 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

If one man believes that the sun is a ball of elementary 
fire imparting light and heat, and anotht^r believes that it 
is a globe pretty much like the one we inhabit, having on 
its surface about the same proportion of land and water, 
and inhabited by living creatures of some kind, all will a- 
gree that the position, properties, attributes and powers of 
the great luminary would not be affected by the conflict 
in belief,nor the days and nights lenghtened or shortened. 
Millions of intelligent persons hold such conflicting opin- 
ions and belief as above stated, upon subjects connected 
with astronomy, religion and other interesting subjects. — 
Calculations and uset'ul discoveries in astronomy and the 
philosophy of physical nature have been made, and their 
truth established upon arithmetical principles. B it there 
are many theories connected w^th the planetary system 
which rests upon mere belief, many of which cannot be 
tested upon arithmetical principles; but doubtless, further 
truths will be developed and established. We shall nev- 
er, however, be able to circumscribe and com. rehend, 
boundless space; it is too vast for our most expanded ira- 
raagiuations to dwell upon; nor c^^n we by the power of 
immagination enuiDerate the number of solar systems 
which my be within it. 

Since the Christian era there has been hundreds of de- 
nominations or sects of christians and the number is annu- 
ally increasing. Now if every error in Christian faith and 
belief is fatal, we cannot be certain that a single individual 
has reached Heaven since that epoch, and, if any, the 
number must be comparatively few; and if salvation is 
limited to Christians, Jews, Mahomedans, and all those of 
other religions are excluded. 

In all countries where the scriptures are generally 
read, there is a diversity of opinion; and the body of 
Christians are divided into distinct societies. Every differ- 
ence of opinion or belief in doctrine, church government, 
ordinances, or no ordinances gives rise to an additional 



POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM* SlT' 

denomination. Here the intelligent reader is requested to 
pause in humble adoration of the moral philosophy of De- 
ity, who in the organization of the human mind, body 
and physiognomy, wisely determmed that in all nations 
in which his children would be left free to think and be- 
lieve for themselves, they should be divided in belief. — 
This wholesome moulding of the mind creates a spirit of 
enquiry, emulating all by a laudable ambition, to se^k for 
knowledge. The numerous classes of believers, renders 
any one division small compared with all others, and none 
have an idea or desire to have special legal protection; all 
are alike tolerant. There are indeed some bigots and fanat- 
ics in religion in this land of liberty, but they are compar- 
itively so small in number as scarcely worthy of being no- 
ticed as exceptions to the spirit of toleration and freedom 
of opinion w'hich is cherished and advocated throughout 
the nation. All men of well regulated mind, and who 
reason closely, must be solemnly impressed by the uncer- 
tainty that generally attends belief—ihe difference Detween 
believing and knowing. 

Deity must have had a definitive design informing and 
organizing the corporeal structure and mind of man. The 
i^ is so complete that it is conveniently used in forming 
and managing all implements and things necessary for our 
comfort, and codld not be improved; and every physical 
part is equally perfect. Upon the mind is bestowed buoy- 
ancy, and to it is given a longitude and latitude, greater 
than that given by Noah to the dove which he "sent forth 
out of the Ark;" it soars above in search of knowledge 
with a velocity greater than light, leaving distant planets 
in the rear whilst gravity confines the corporeal body to the 
earth :in all this we behold omnipotent wisdom and de- 
sign. 

The great I AM must have had a fixed and useful design 
in all his acts. If he had created the human family to 
look alike and believe alike through all time; that is to say 



318 POLITICAL. EQUILIBRIUM. 

every male to be an exact facsimile of every other male of 
the same^'age, and every female an exact copy of every oth 
er of thesame years, the uniformity, physical and moral, 
would have created incalculable inconvenience in our social 
intercourse and business transactions. But it seemed good 
in the unerring judgment of Omnipotence to make a differ- 
ence in the appearance and belief, or opinion of every hu- 
man being in some respect or other — ^By the former a man 
can plainly see a difference between his own wife and 
children and the wife and children of his neighbor, and 
the necessity and the wisdom of this physical difference is 
visible throughout our social intercourse and business 
transactions. If all believed alike, the mind would be 
more or less inactive, and no conceivable good could be 
derived from such a monotonous state of mind. To pro- 
scribe and torture each other for not believing alike, would 
be as wicked and anti-christian, as it would be to pro- 
scribe and punish each other for not looking alike; and 
would be more in the spirit maniacs than of rational men. 
It would be as impossible to find two intelligent men who 
think and believe alike upon aM subjects, as it would be to 
unite the democracy of Maine and South Carolina upon the 
slave question. What a man believes to day, he may disbe- 
lieve to-morrow. It matters not to the writer what his 
neighbor believes, he judges all men by their acts, not by 
their belief or religious creed. 

From the uncertainty connected with belief, we may be 
oftener wrong than right upon that subject; which cannot 
fail to impress upon every well regulated mind a spirit of 
sober enquiry, forbearance and toleration. 



INDEX. 

A 

Adams J. Q.,— 87 
Adams John, — 230 

B 
Blackston on Government, — 12 
Banks,— 154— 162— 172— 174 
Benton Hon. T. H.— 182— 183 

C 
Calhoun Hon. J. C— 199 
Clay Hon. Henry,— 253 

Dymon Jonathan — 241 

F 
Forms of Government, — 11 

H 
Henry Patrick,— 230 

I 
Internal Improvement, — 40 — 54 — 54 
Innate Ideas, — 311 

J 
Jefferson Thomas, on War, — 17 
do. do. on Government, — 19 

do. do. approve of a Bank Bill, — 179 

do. do. on Whig & Tory,— 224 

Jackson Andrew, — 19 — 25 — 26 — 46 — 49—51 — 57 — 81 
—84—92 
do. do. Martial Law,— 111 

do. do. Letter to Dr. Coleman on protectiye du 

ties,— 114 
do. do. on Banks,— 165— 166— 169— 170 

do. do. on Public Lands^ — 148 



320 POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Judges of Courts, — 36 
Johnston Hon. W. C— 136 

L 
Lake Trade,— 59 

M 
Merrick Hon. W. D.— 176 
Monroe James, opinion of a Bank, — 180 
Mason Hon. J. T ,—192 

P 
Public Lands, — 131 
Protective Duties, — 69 

T 
Taney R. B.— 171 

V 
Veto,— 206 
Voters,— 226 

W 
Washington George, — 16 — 225 
Woodbury Levi, — 172 
War,— 231 

ERRATA: 

In a few impressions on page 47, 1836 appears instead 
of 1830. 

A few sentences which should have been marked as 
quotations, were inadvertently omitted by the printer, 
which escaped the notice of the writer until after the sheet* 
were struck off; he regrets the errors which was uninten* 
tional. 




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